Lived and worked from 38 countries.
Classified
Joined March 2011
- Tweets2.7K
- Following1.7K
- Followers1.2K
- Likes12.9K
Pinned Tweet
My game development arc continues. Something I've been thinking about is the process to develop a game. I'm writing this for myself, but others may find it useful. Or maybe someone with experience has suggestions for improvement.
How to make a game:
1. Create a game loop
2. Repeat the game loop
3. Make each loop more challenging (tip: early game loops should feel simple and fun)
4. (Optional) Add a story that gives reasoning and attachment to the game loop
These aren't hard rules, but they're applicable to 99% of games. As you can see, the game loop is everything. Today's trend is simple game loops. I think it's because while technology is useful, it also makes the world more complicated and frustrating. Vegging out while injecting dopamine into your system is the counter.
The four walls are called being married. The strange machine is the wife. The tools are breakfast and the upgrades are [private]. The items asked in return are the latest iPhone and flowers.
This game is a marriage simulator.
What if you were walled up in four walls with a strange machine that gives you tools and upgrades and in return asks you to throw items found in the walls into it. Would you give it a try?
#indiedev #gamedev #indiegame
Good points, but there's something else is important about Roblox vs Steam: an audience. Sure, they are younger. But the platform itself is available to much more people on multiple devices. It's not like Steam has an app that you can log into on your phone and play anyone's game in seconds.
Steam generates 3x the revenue of Roblox while Roblox has up to 1000x more games released per day than Steam. Yet Roblox games releases in seconds via an automated review system and Steam takes weeks.
The problem is not AI games increasing the number of Steam reviews. This is bullshit being sold to you. The problem is Steam is derelict of its duty.
Roblox has invested billions into app review process. When you build a product your assets are uploaded into the system as you are building, so you don't get some sudden rejection at the time of release. They have spent a lot of money on R&D and AI systems that analyze and detect problematic content, and also have appeal systems.
Valve takes 30% from you as a developer but has spent nothing to invest into the systems required to handle content reviews. Absolutely shameful.
Tuning into American politics from outside the US. Looks like more war is expected. The guy who voted on stopping wars didn't fulfil his promise.
I set up Claude code to do full game development through my phone. It wasn't difficult to do but I haven't seen anybody else talking about it. Basically you keep a session running on your computer with the toggles for desktop control and no sleep.
You then give it access to publish and as long as you have the Roblox app on your phone, you can update the game via remote studio and test it via the app.
As of today a man's sole purpose is to make money. Maybe this will change in the future. If a male doesn't make enough money he is not a man. He is a boy.
Am I the only one who is seriously annoyed and disturbed when AI tries to sound human when saying things like
- fair enough?
- that's on me?
- (emojis)?
It feels so fake. AI is a machine. It doesn't have emotions. When it tries to act human or express empathy it's feels like a scam.
This could improve testing turnaround times for agents. Much faster than relaunching in studio.
Creators, it’s your turn to test Web Play. 🎮
Starting today, you can play your own Roblox games in Chrome on macOS, Windows, and Android. Open your game in Creator Hub and click “Play in Browser” to help us find bugs and tune performance before Web Play reaches all players.
Get the details: devforum.roblox.com/t/creato…
This is really great advice. I've been doing the same recently. Another benefit of a web editor is you can continue to work on your game from your phone.
If you make games without AI, you're wasting your time.
Here's how I build Ladder Knight. I leave a note right on the map and keep working. A minute later, the change is in the game.
From small things like basic decor or a slightly higher jump, to entirely new mechanics like a block that moves on any path and connects to any buttons. Each one is just a note.
I test it right in the editor. The editor is made completely by AI too. Even this video was made with a feature AI added, because I didn't want to waste time cropping it.
Years ago I spent more time making editors than making games (I worked on mobile games in 2020). Now the tools grow with the game.
If you ever dreamed of making your own game, there was never a better time to start.
I really tried to make Grok work with game dev, but it's just not as good as Claude right now. It could be -- but it's lacking. It doesn't understand context well enough to give good results.
Speed is everything when it comes to game development today. The faster you can test a prototype the better. The faster you can listen to audience feedback and reiterate the better. The faster you can implement a new trend into your existing game... the better.
I've seen advice about waiting 2 weeks before determining if a game is worth working on. I think that's too long. Because I also see some games take off out the gate. Those are the winners to go after.
Naturally, those "overnight successes" could be relaunches of the same game and or the result of months and months of testing. But the point remains: if the game isn't a big hit after 2-3 days of ad spend, spending more time on ads isn't going to help.
The lesson is the same with media buying for leads. If after 2-3 days and or 2-3x the CPA of money is pushed on an ad and it doesn't show signs of success, cut and move on.
Discourse isn't a strong feature of this site.
> Someone posts something I disagree with
> I reply I don't think it's true
> Poster says show proof and sources
> I post 10+ forms of proof with sources the poster follows and reposts
> I get blocked
Maybe it's a bigger sign of the state of the world.
Naturally you are always right if you surround yourself with information that reaffirms your beliefs. It's copywriting 101, essentially -- it's easier to get someone to take action based on things they already believe than to have them adopt a new belief.
Claude beats @cursor_ai and @grok when it comes to game dev. I would rather not cancel Cursor / Grok, but after 100+ hours of trying the to get Cursor/XAI to work, it's too aggravating to continue using them.
One of the downsides of working with AI models is if you don't finish a project quick enough you could come back to an "updated" model that doesn't fully understand the previous work and understanding of the previous model.
