Making games and tools in off hours. Inspired by the #indiedev and #gamedev communities, and #Nintendo, the #NES and #SNES in particular. Learning I was wrong about something every day.
If game developers are willing, I’d like to be their Mister Rogers.
Games like #SuperMetroid and #LinkToThePast are often categorized very differently. The formula though seems nearly the same. Gated challenge areas that give new capabilities, that enable wider exploration.
The difference is largely in visual perspective and control mechanics. Sometimes our genres seem like a feeble attempt at drawing boundaries around an inherently flexible medium.
@eniko So many students in my discrete math class simply didn’t believe our teacher when the Monty Hall problem came up. His explanation was unsatisfactory I guess.
A number of them came to the next class having validated it themselves statistically, astonished.
Don’t carry a second hand opinion about a programming language as an excuse to shy away from something.
Give it your own look. Worst case, you agree. Best case, you discover something you love.
Regardless, you will improve your craft to have broader experience, your own first hand insights, and a new tool, even if it won’t become a go-to solution.
Frankly, learning a new language isn’t all that hard, and it gets easier every time.
Uploaded my first project to itch just now after “accidentally” making a pixel font while working on my tile editor this weekend. Not sure I’ll have a use for it soon, but thought someone else might be interested.
I remember why I stopped playing #HollowKnight. The game being hard is fine, but it’s way too easy to lose massive amounts of progress as you unlock new areas.
Time to unleash your (un)fond memories, RPG veterans! Which game holds the crown for the most notorious grind? Was it mind-numbing monster encounters or endless fetch quests? Share your stories in the comments! #HotTakes#RPGGrind
@untitledgamestudios Ah, but you’re making the assumption I don’t want to grind. Very fond memories grinding golems for gold in the original Dragon Warrior (Quest) for NES.
I've a question about modern "homebrew" games made for old consoles:
Why is the original Gameboy such a popular target? Itch lists a whopping 6406 games tagged as targeting Gameboy. The second-most popular old console is the NES, with only 1848 games on Itch: less than a third as many as the Gameboy. The Gameboy Advance sits at only 450 games on Itch.
@183231bcb Aside from the GBStudio mentions… Gameboy had the hindsight of the NES playing into its design. Things as common as the status bar in an NES game are implemented in ways that feel like a hack, but have a straightforward solution on GB. There are a number other similar niceties like that.
If you don’t want to “build your own” Flappy Bird, you can just hit “play” to try it with the default graphics that I recently freshened up. Including some of the test tiles I had made working on my NES game.
Hey #gamedev fam, the weekend is almost here! You're doing great, and whatever you manage to accomplish is enough!
If you’re playing something, or even watching a show, you want to create games because other things have inspired you. It’s okay to go at your pace, and stay open to finding some new inspiration for what’s next.
We don’t need to be so tentative #gamedev people. There are way too many “aspiring,” “someday,” “dabbler,” etc. folks around.
We see your artwork, your vision, your demos. Even if it’s not your day job, if this is what you’re truly passionate about, you can claim it outright. People have written way messier code on way worse projects as “professionals.”
What you’re working is almost certainly more interesting than Space Invaders or Donkey Kong. They both changed the world.
It's always the same with me:
I am profiling a piece of code and I can't figure out why execution times are so erratic, despite the work the function does, stays exactly the same. And then it hits me: My CPU is clocking up and down constantly in the background.
How is Metroid, generally critically acclaimed and well regarded, among the poorer performing first party franchises. All while the genre that it co-authored is among the most popular for indie games.
@isaackuo That’s true, I’ve wondered if that gap hurt the franchise, but as it turns out, Metroid Prime’s eventual performance is among the strongest when you account for user base.
And that gap could be explained by the game having a much less straightforward transition into 3D than some other franchises. Fans were all pretty skeptical before the reviews for Prime started coming out.
@isaackuo I just feel like franchise performance has been mismatched compared to demand for the genre, especially considering the critical success of most Metroid games.
But perhaps my perception is skewed. Maybe there’s stronger press coverage of Metroidvania games, or something else at play that I just haven’t been able to put my finger on yet.
