Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #indiedev

Most recents (24)

I've seen a few posts recently asking what resources are out there that can help explain to someone what #ADHD actually looks like in adults, so I'm sharing a few excellent ones from the Educate section of our Resource Bank:
Here's an article about a person who was convinced by doctors who held bias views about ADHD that they did not have it (when they did): additudemag.com/medical-gaslig…
Great article on someone being diagnosed with #ADHD at 37 and what they wish they'd know before (web archive link because paywall):
web.archive.org/web/2022102614…
Read 8 tweets
#UnityTips: 🔥 Fluid 'simulation' trail shader. 🫧

Inspired by a #b3d node animation. [U]V gradient masks control the colour/alpha/width over trail. ✨

('fluid' is 100% rendered in the shader)

#unity3d #gamedev #indiedev #madewithunity #gameart #vfx #realtimevfx #proceduralart
In glorious, full screen 1080p. 🤩
A still of the node graph. Have a look: 👀📊
Read 10 tweets
Noise applied to a solid strip, with strength masked by horizontal gradient. Creates a the illusion of a wispy trial!

Throw in some remapping, bloom/post, and... 🤩

#gamedev #indiedev #vfx
Quantized time + colour gradients would be useful for styling and that toon look.

You could use it as a trail attached to either your mouse or a particle system. Imagine using it with this effect?

Plexus and all!

Read 6 tweets
Error messages are like the unsung heroes of game development, but did you know that a good one can save your player's experience? 💾

🧵 Let's explore the dos and don'ts in this thread 👇👇

#unrealEngine #gameDev #indieDev #unity3D Image
As a developer you are probably writing lots of error messages while developing your game. But do you pay attention to crafting them in a way so they are really helpful to players?

Let's start by talking about what makes a bad error message actually bad: Image
- [ Too Generic ] -

It's generally a bad idea to just add a generic title to all your error messages. "Something went wrong" is telling your player exactly nothing about what happened.
And that's particularly bad as it increases frustration and confusion.
Read 15 tweets
Concepting and making an epic game battle between two wizards playing rock, paper, and scissors to determine who was the greatest.

Here’s 🧵 on how the wizard characters and items were created:

#gamedev #aicharacters #AIgaming #indiedev
The good wizard is always looking to help others with his magic. The bad wizard is willing to do anything to become the greatest wizard of all. We simply prompted “good wizard“ and “bad wizard” using one of the pre-made asset generators.
Creating the different items in this battle was so simple, we promoted “Magic potion” and it was consistent with the style of the characters. ☠️
Read 4 tweets
1/ 在 ChatGPT、GitHub Copilot、Midjourney、Whisper等一系列人工智能的帮助下,将会出现越来越多百倍效率的独立开发者,也将会出现越来越多的一人型公司,精益创业将会更加精益。因为在这些工具的加持下,产品、设计、开发、运维、运营、销售、客服等等必要环节的效率都将会被提升。
2/ 到那时,人们可以把那些大量重复的劳动都交给小助手,自己只要把精力放在最重要的、最有创造力的地方,比如说产品需求的分析、软件架构的设计、核心代码的编写、商业策略的计划……
3/ 比如说产品做好了需要写一篇生动活泼的产品发布稿,以前这种事情可能要花掉半天到一天的时间,现在可能只需要十几分钟,我们只要写几个要点,剩下的让AI去扩写就好了。
Read 6 tweets
1/8 INCOMING LOVEFEST THREAD!

We played a LOT of games in 2022. And fell in love with a lot of them as well. Now while they all can't get #GOTY, we can give out a bunch of silly awards to show these games just how much they mean to us.

duelscreens.com/duel-screens-t…

#indiegames ImageImageImageImage
2/8

Our 'The Bob Barker Award' goes to none other than @rednexusgames for Peglin!

"This game lets me live out my Plinko dreams and does fun things to my brain."

Congrats @DylanGedig! We gotta bring you back on the show again real soon.

#peglin #plinko #indiedev #indiegames Image
3/8

Our 'The Best RPG That None Of Us Talked About Award' goes to @ChainedEchoes!

@arkheiral is our hero. We didn't talk about your amazing game at all in 2022. Let's fix that. We have a cozy spot waiting for you on our podcast.

#rpg #pixelart #indiedev #indiegames Image
Read 8 tweets
Want to know a secret to making your game development process run smoothly? 🔥

Let's talk about versioning 🧵👇

#gameDev #indieDev #indieGameDev #coding #unrealEngine #unity3D
First of all I want to point out the importance of clear and consistent versioning of your game builds. Keeping track of changes and updates is essential for ensuring that your game is stable, efficient, and easy to understand for both the development team and the players.
Typically a game version is made up of 3 to 4 elements, like 1.0.14 or 1.3.74.8.

You can basically break them down as follows: [Major].[Minor].[Patch].[Build]
Read 25 tweets
ChatGPT + Unity + Visual Scripting
Here's my integration that allows you to have AI generated conversations in your game!

AI in your game in minutes without writing any code

I'll be bringing this to the asset store soon for everyone to use #indiedev #gamedev #chatgpt #openai
Just uploaded a video showing how it can be used to translate messages between players who speak different languages also 🗣️
Best for last, here's a demo of ChatGPT and AI integrated into the Unity editor:

🤖 ChatGPT tailored to game devs. AI generate and save scripts into your project

🤖 Analyze, debug, and update existing scripts with AI

🤖 Generate quality prompts for AI use

#indiedev #gamedev
Read 4 tweets
There are thousands of great templates for pitching your game.

I filtered through them, so YOU don't have to:

Here are my top 3 picks:

👇🧵

#gamedev #indiedev
1) Wargroove Pretend Pitch Deck by Cucklefish ✨

10~11 Slides, shows what it's all about and what's needed.

docs.google.com/presentation/d…
2) Guy Kawasaki's 10 Slides ✨

Ten Slides, twenty minutes and contain no font smaller than thirty points.

guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-sl…
Read 6 tweets
In 2022 I set a New Year's resolution to ship 12 small indie games. With a full time job and kids this was tough.

I've now shipped my 12th game! One was even picked up by a festival. If you want to do something similar for games/writing/coding/art/etc,here's what I learned: 🧵👇
1/ NEVER HAVE A ZERO DAY: My ability to be prolific this year is from this. I set a low bar of 15 minutes every day. If I missed, I made sure I didn't miss two in a row. Even if I was unmotivated and not starting until 11:45pm, I could still get in 15 minutes and call it a win.
2/ A BAD SESSION IS STILL A WIN: Within a coding session if I didn't finish as much as anticipated, I felt like a failure. "My only time today was wasted on this stupid bug I didn't even fix!" But I learned it's still a win because I put the time in.Tomorrow progress will be made
Read 10 tweets
Quick content strategy for your game💗

1. Find a piece of your game you want to highlight in more detail

2. Create 2 weeks of content:

• Items & objects
• Characters & NPCs
• Gameplay
• Common misconceptions
• Bugs + Q&A
• Why it's awesome & new

👇
#gamedev #indiedev
3. Schedule content over one month.
(one post daily)

4. Pick new detail you want to highlight.
Think small and what value it brings to the person viewing it.
Is it fun? Relaxing?

5. Repeat 2+3 until 3 daily posts.

How does it make them stop scrolling and get interested?
This way you can create 1 month of content in just a single sitting.

There are more techniques that will give you better and faster results than this one. Really depends on your hook and platform.
Read 3 tweets
"Is my game ever going to get finished?"

It's not uncommon for developers to worry about running out of time or resources before their game is completed.

Here is a list of strategies you can use to prevent running out of time:
👇🧵

#gamedev #indiedev
1. Plan and prioritize
Make a list of tasks that need to be completed and prioritize them based on importance and deadlines.

2. Set goals✨
Setting specific and achievable goals can help you stay focused and motivated.
Helps to track progress and make adjustments.
👇
3. Time management
Use tools like calendars, to-do lists, and timers to manage your time effectively. This can help you stay on track and avoid getting sidetracked by less important
Read 8 tweets
There is always a risk that a game will not be successful.

Even if you have the best marketing, the most competent developers and the most beautiful art.

Here are a few steps to advance your success:

#gamedev #indiedev
🧵👇
1. Have a flexible vision.
It's important to listen to feedback, but having a vision of where you want to be on a personal level and your game on a financial level will help you in setting healthy long-term goals.
2. Research the market.
It's important to understand what types of games are currently popular and what players are looking for in a game. Also what genres work best on what platform.

What else? 👇
Read 8 tweets
Are you a lazy #gamedev or #indiedev ?

Game development is often misunderstood as a "lazy" industry, with the perception being that developers just sit around playing games all day.

However, this could not be further from the truth for most of us.

Or is it?

🧵👇
What is commonly known as lazy?

- being unwilling to work, put in the time or make an effort.
- lack of discipline or motivation in regards to completing tasks or achieving goals.
- may prefer to take the easy way out or avoid work altogether
Laziness is subjective and can vary from person to person.

What one person considers lazy may be normal or hardworking to another.

Remember that people may appear lazy due to lack of resources or support, not necessarily a lack of motivation or desire to work.
Read 15 tweets
1) If you're wondering how successful was @SoulashGame and what it took to get here, I bring some data, some advice, a little about me and how I got here, and what it took to make it.

Thread below!

#indiedev #gamedev #solodev #indiegamedev
2) I worked on @SoulashGame for 7.5k hours over 5 years. After all asset costs, store cuts, and taxes I earned 14.95$ per hour as of today.

This includes Steam, Itch, Gog, and Patreon over the full duration, including EA.

#gamedev #indiedev
3) Speaking strictly in terms of income per hour, I ended my career as a Systems Architect / Team Lead when I released @SoulashGame, and I was earning twice the rate in #webdev than in #indiedev

But when I started working on Soulash, I was a PHP developer earning 6 times less
Read 25 tweets
"What if no one will like my game?"

Sometimes I find it very helpful to look at the worst case scenario

It helps me calm down and put things in perspective

Most of the time, the worst case isn't so bad and is actually a lesson learned.

#gamedev #indiedev
Personally, I've noticed that the worst-case scenarios always boil down to one of these:

- Fear of not being "good enough"
- Fear of rejection or failure or
- feeling insecure

It might be something different for you, but what helped me was...
To get in touch with entrepreneurs who were much more successful than me.

To understand how they made decisions and why, and to realize that you always have to do emotional work when developing a game or any other product.

You have this additional layer of emotion management.
Read 4 tweets
Hey #gamedev #indiedev !

✨Want more people interested in your game? ✨

Time to look at your hook!

Here is what it is and why you should care:

[Thread🧵]
A hook is a feature of a game that is intended to grab the player's attention and make them want to keep playing.

In order to craft a hook for a game, you need to consider what will be most appealing to your target audience.
This could be a unique gameplay mechanic, an intriguing story, or a compelling reward system.

There are many things that could be interesting to your player.

Every player is different, so it is important for you to understand who you are talking to.
Read 10 tweets
🧵(1/?) We only talk about successful indie games (the minority). Let's talk about the actual reality of indie development.
I'll be posting fully transparent sales numbers, revenue, etc. in this thread for my game that would be considered unsuccessful by most.
#gamedev #indiedev
(2/?) First, let's look at the actual game I'm discussing for context, "Video Game Fables".

I released it July 15, 2022, so about 5 months ago.

Trailers, info videos, links, reviews, etc.:
momijistudios.net

Accolades trailer / info Tweet:
(3/?) One thing to get out of the way - the game is good, so that's not the problem.
Of course as the dev I think my game is good, but if you look at Steam user reviews and critic reviews, the game is undeniably a good game.

Reviews without scores here:
momijistudios.net
Read 28 tweets
I made a input buffer system. In this clip you can see how pressing block mid-combo would result in some harsh transitions and then how I rectified that with input buffering!
🧵(1/3)

#indie #indiedev #indiegamedev #indiegame #gamedev #gamedevelopment #ue4 #gamedeveloper #ue5
Here's the simple version of how I achieved it:
- Create a bool to check if your input was pressed.
- This is checked in an event tick notify end which is placed in the animation as a notify.
- If true send an event to your character BP e.g Block.
🧵(2/3)
In the end you should have a notify window which can be placed anywhere to stop these nasty transitions.

This is a basic version of a buffer system, this is simply checking if an input was pressed and what to fire from there!

Inspiration: @sekirothegame
🧵(3/3) Image
Read 3 tweets
в первый день последнего месяца этого дерьмового года мне захотелось сделать что-то теплое и приятное для инди разработчиков, которые не знают, как развить свою игру в целый коммерческий ПРОЕКТ

поэтому расскажу о том, как запитчить игру и получить инвестиции👇🧵 Image
почему хочу об этом поговорить: вот уже три года я делаю @sanyathegame, ровно год назад мы привлекли на проект инвестиции

хочу рассказать про наш опыт, ибо то что я знаю сейчас очень бы помогло мне два года назад. надеюсь, что кому-то это тоже пригодится!
буду каждый день писать что-нибудь в тему. и так до конца месяца. постараюсь сделать все максимально поддерживающе, потому что вы этого заслуживаете! enjoy💛
Read 31 tweets
Which team will win the @FIFAWorldCup Qatar 2022? We still don’t have our types – who knows what’s gonna happen... Take a few minutes off the football mania and read this #WeeklySummary, some great things happened last week in #GameDev!

#BetterKnow #Gaming #Games
🎯 @oml_games (creators of @GhostrunnerGame) signed a publishing deal with @PrivateDivision, a part of Take-Two Interactive. Private Division will release #CyberSlash (codename) – a new IP of OML, planned to be their biggest project yet and a unique take on action games.
🎯 You can nominate games for The #SteamAwards 2022 – feel free to vote for @Lumencraft_game & Destroyer_IWS for Best Game You Suck At Award, @deadlinkgame for Outstanding Visual Style Award and Best Soundtrack Award or JARS by @MousetrapG in Labor Of Love Award.
Read 10 tweets
Creating paid ads for your game can feel scary.

It is a skill you can learn, but every skill needs training.

Here are some thoughts, if you want to start into it:

🧵👇

#gamedev #indiedev
If you consider a game as an interdisciplinary medium.

Through your game you're constantly communicating with your players.

What does your game "say" to them through the images, mechanics and things that happen inside?

Go There?
Do That?
Kill This?
Usually it's more than that.
Basically, it's about the *message* you send out and whether it gets through to someone.

The clearer the message, the easier it's received and understood.

Here's an analogy that will help you not only with paid ads, but with any type of communication.
Read 12 tweets
I learned one really important lesson while working on Monster Train.

Keep your gameplay code completely separate from your UI/Animation/Input.

Here is how I put this into practice:

1/11

#gamedev #indiedev
First off, benefits:

1. Simpler code from avoiding mixing up game logic with input and visual controllers
2. Easier to network
3. Easier to create save/load systems
4. Easier to create debugging/testing tools
5. Easier to create replay systems

Now, onto the technique...

2/11
1. All game simulation state is contained in 1 structure (WorldState)

Components of sim are organized inside structures within that 1 data structure. This WorldState can be passed around to pure functions, serialized to disk or over the network, and inspected by tools.

3/11
Read 11 tweets

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