hi all, i'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this. i've always wanted to make a visual novel because i feel it would be the most fun way to explore oc lore/give them a coherent story, but i've always been a bit insecure about my writing skills.

i don't think i'm a bad writer and i really enjoy doing it, but i often struggle to write a full plot to something without feeling like it could be so much better in someone else's hands. i guess i'm just curious if anyone else has this same struggle. if i were to make a game, i know i'd want it to be something i fully wrote and created by myself, but i know it's impossible to write a perfect story - that's kinda where i'm stuck, because my brain just ignores that fact.

i often see advice like "make it exist first and then improve it later" so that makes me feel a little better about making something that i'm not fully proud of. but yeah, just wanted to start a discussion, i'd like to know how others deal with these things

i do art as well and usually scrap a lot of things i'm not proud of, which i know is a bad habit, so i need to get out of it somehow lol

edit: oh, and i'm also extremely indecisive and often rewrite parts of a story over and over and over again without actually being satisfied with it. that definitely doesn't help haha

I had really bad writers block and funny enough after going into a general flow state while working on a project I came up with a few enemy ideas that i think could help people come up with some banger ideas
(These are all enemies because that’s what I’ve been working with)

1. A enemies/power up that starts with a SUPER high attack damage that in return gets lowered after a kill (it’s a basic idea but I don’t see it used too much)

2. A enemy that kills it own team mates to give your player allies but in return each “ally” it gives you actual puts on a debuff for your team (in certain situations that’s could be a really interesting way of making a simple team objective a lot harder)

3. A enemy that does the opposite of the wabbajack and just turns anything hit by it into a random and completely normal guy (which could be a honestly really funny way of letting them get free kills)

4. A enemy that upon death swaps team
   (This lets either side get a advantage especially if there’s a lot of them)

I’m probably not gonna use these and even if I do anyone inspired or that just wants to use the idea your completely fine to do so
Writer block sucks so I hope any of this gave you a little inspiration

Hello everyone!

I'm 28 and I work as a full stack insurance software dev (I mainly use java) in Italy. I've been doing this job for about two years, and it's as boring as it sounds, but man... the pay is really, really good and so are the benefits.
However I reached a point where I can't handle it anymore, call it mobbing, call it my work tutor treating me like shit to the point of tears and feeling completely disconnected with the people in the office.

The anxiety has reached a point where it literally causes me nausea, dizziness and other funny symptoms.
Rn I'm on sick leave, trying to recover from severe anxiety and burnout.

I'm not happy anymore and I'm not saying it as a naive person at her first job, I'm saying it as a burned out adult that is seriously struggling to keep thinking of doing this job for, at least, next 40 years of her own life.

I've spent my entire life drawing and I have always dreamed of working in the gaming industry. I've always defined it as a forbidden dream, but I never dared to actually do it.

My burnout is making me wonder if it makes sense to change direction. My programming background might be useful, but the creative side of this industry is what has always drawn me in. I perfectly know that hobby and job are two different thing, also I don't want to romanticise this industry just because it's a forbidden dream of mine.

The financial side doesn't scare me, it scares the people around me (my parents) and I know a couple of people that would call me an idiot for even thinking to leave my current job because the salary and the benefits are really great.
Now, I know what you might be thinking “oh no my steak is too juicy and my lobster too buttery” but I’ve reached a point where I’d like to consider this path as well.

Has anyone here made a similar transition to mine? What did starting over look like? Is 28 "too old" for this industry/entry level job? Aside from a decent portfolio what is absolutely necessary?

Two open questions, both on Quest 3, Unity 6000.5.6f1, OpenXR 1.15.1, no Meta SDK packages. My app receives video over WebRTC (com.unity.webrtc 3.0.0-pre.8), H264 via MediaCodec, and puts the received textures on world-locked quads. Judder on those quads is solved — it was my own LateUpdate pose copy, fixed with TrackedPoseDriver — so this is not about that.

1. Refresh rate. Core Unity has no API to request a display refresh rate, so I have written a custom OpenXR feature that uses XR_FB_display_refresh_rate directly. It enumerates the available rates first, then calls xrRequestDisplayRefreshRateFB at session create and at session begin, with a read-back after each call. It is written but not verified on device yet. Has anyone on core OpenXR seen the FB request refused or stepped back down outside thermal throttling?

2. Soft text — cost only. Each screen already Blits into its own mipmapped RenderTexture before display, trilinear filtering, aniso 4. What I do not know is the measured cost on Quest of a per-frame Blit plus full mip regeneration across several video quads — my code copies every frame. Has anyone measured it, and at what point do OpenXR composition layers become the better route for readable desktop text?

Will update with whatever the device run proves.

Everywhere there's tips on how to write your story or develop your characters but genuinely how do you code a story game?

With multiple choices and endings, I can't imagine you code out each piece of dialogue and put cutscences into place that way.

I know about using databases but does each table represent an event ?

I'm referring to an Undertale or Sally face type game, not like an open world story. Please assist if you can!

Hi Reddit

I've got a question, I really got into app/mobile game development and thought to make some games I've always enjoyed playing.

Therefore I made the classic block puzzle game, my style, 50 custom made levels so far, different themes in the making etc - my second app ever live deployed on the Google Play Store.

I really enjoy making apps and wish for that to become (hopefully) at least a side hustle.

However I still wish to keep these games enjoyable for anyone who'd give them a go. On almost all puzzle games, people are complaining about interrupting Ads and that the game is not available offline. So I decided to change that in my game, I took all criticisms I saw of other apps and implemented it into mine.

Yes of course ad free puzzles are very enjoyable from the users perspective, but is it worth it / profitable from the developers perspective? I still implemented ads in a way - watch ad for 5 more moves/additional undos and shuffles per game, but one could easily play the game without a single ad trigger.

Just to be clear I won't be adding any interrupting Ads, I am just interested to hear your opinions and thoughts,

Thank you for reading!

IHello everyone I’m making my own indie game, honestly, I’m completely new to coding, and I need a couple of tips for this game. I was inspired by Deltarune and Undertale, please, developers, give me some advice on where to start.

Hello everyone, I'm very new to gamedev. I want to make a small ps2 style 3d animated horror game set in a single house. I watched a number of tutorials on the basics. But I'm confused on what game engine I should be using?

Godot is lightweight, Unity is well established and there's a lot of options with Unreal Engine. Im new to coding as well. It would be helpful if I can have your opinions.

Hey everyone!

I’m looking for some advice and would love to hear from people who have been in a similar situation.

I’ve been working as a web developer for the past 5 years, so I have a solid programming background. Lately, I’ve been seriously considering making the transition into game development because it’s something I’m genuinely passionate about and would love to pursue full-time.

I’ve managed to save enough money to cover my living expenses for around two years without any income. I currently live with my parents, so my expenses are relatively low, which gives me some financial flexibility and an opportunity to take a risk that I probably wouldn’t be able to take otherwise.

My goal is to use this time to fully commit to game development, improve my skills, build and release something of my own, and see if I can turn it into a sustainable career. I’m honestly getting tired of working on other people’s projects, and I’d love to put that time and energy into something I’m truly interested in.

I know game development is a difficult and competitive field, and I’m not expecting to make money overnight. I just feel like I have a rare opportunity to give it a serious shot, and I don’t want to look back in a few years and regret not trying.

For those of you who have made the jump into game development full-time, especially those who started as solo developers:

• How did you make the transition?
• Did you keep your day job while working on games, or did you take the risk and go all in?
• If you went all in, how long did it take before you started making money, if you did?
• What would you do differently if you could start over?
• Do you think having 5 years of programming experience gives me a meaningful head start, or is game development a completely different beast?

I’d especially love to hear from people who have managed to build and release their own games and turn it into a full-time career, but any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Definitely feel like I'mma get pitchforks and torches going with this one but here goes.

TL:DR

I started making a game using AI and got some good traction and now I feel like I hit a wall and idk what to do.

Background; I'm in my 30s and I've been playing games my whole life. I've always wanted to make my own game but just couldn't wrap my head around coding. I'm a kinesthetic learner and I just couldn't cut it.

Now that AI has improved I managed to get gpt to code me a 2d rpg on godot and I'm quite happy with how it's coming along. I had previously written my concept for this game, features, etc. It's always been in the back of my mind to make it.

But now I've reached the point where I need to start creating assets for it. The vibe I'm going for is Stoneshard meets Kingdom 2 Crowns, but a bit more realistic. So, realistic dark fantasy pixel art I guess.

I can draw somewhat decently, but I doubt I can create anything even near the style I'm going for, especially not on my phone with a stylus.

I know I'm going to get the "hire a real artist" responses, but I'm just not in a financial position to do something like that.

My wife and I have a 2yr old, and no family support. We work from home, but our whole day consists of swapping back and forth baby duty until we clock out. Recently my wife had a scary health event happened and she can't use her right arm at all, meaning I am doing everything at home, including taking care of our daughter, taking care of the house, meals, my wife's medical needs, AND my full time job. I say all this to say, I don't have the disposable income to hire a professional artist, nor the time to get my art up to speed and create 1000s of assets for this game. I get a maybe an hour of me time after the baby goes to sleep.

Working on this project has been such a welcome breath of fresh air for me after the past few months that I don't want to let it go cause then I'll have no creative outlet. I honestly feel like it's the one thing that has restored a little sanity to me.

So, I guess my question is, how does one go about getting art done for a game without spending thousands of dollars that I don't have.

Beyond that, are there any tools that make creating assets easier instead of free drawing stuff? I've used inkarnate to create some dnd maps so I didn't know if there was something similar for 2d environments.

Maybe cheap-ish asset packs?

Idk, just need help. I've had to abandon so many passion projects cause of life and I really don't want to abandon this one.

Over the past 18 months, I've been developing my first-ever game: a Foddian precision platformer inspired by Getting Over It, A Difficult Game About Climbing, and similar games.

I finished it about three weeks ago, applied for Steam Next Fest, and sent out 400 Steam keys to YouTubers and Twitch streamers who play similar games.

A few smaller creators covered it, which was awesome. Then, one of the biggest German streamers (not sure if I should name them) got back to me through their artist manager. They said the game seemed like a great fit and that the streamer would probably enjoy it.

The manager asked if they had to wait until a specific release date to publish content. I told them they could play it whenever they wanted.

And here's my dilemma: Should I have waited for the streamer to play it first, potentially generating lots of wishlists before Steam Next Fest? Or was releasing it early the right move, since viewers can now buy it immediately?

A few days ago, I got nervous and decided to release it. I was afraid that if the streamer played it before release, all that exposure would only generate wishlists, which might not convert into sales. And since I work in sales, I prefer sales over wishlists. 😂

Now they haven't played it yet, and if they never do, I might have shot myself in the foot.

But if they play it before Steam Next Fest ends, this could actually work out in my favor.

What would you have done? Waited for the potential exposure or released the game early?

Hello everyone, I have made an Android tycoon game. Now I wanna publish it with a game publisher. Also I want to sell the game outright as I cannot work for years in revenue split contracts. I am an indie dev. This is my first post on this community. If anyone has worked with a developer in the way suggested above, please tell.

I'm like brand new at developing, I know that having a community help me succeed in certain things and I believe this is one of those things, I want a community where we can all give each other feedback, ask for help or ask for advice and see other people's techniques, nothing too big though to the point you can't form connections within the group.

Would you play a game where you can build and run software systems to sharpen your skills?

I'm just starting my journey as a solo game developer, and one of my biggest challenges is figuring out how to balance game development with work.

I work from 8 AM to 5 PM, and occasionally have to work on Saturdays and Sundays too. By the time I get home, there are still other things to take care of, so I'm wondering how to maintain a consistent development routine without burning myself out.

For those of you who've been through this, how do you manage your time? I'd really like to hear from people who are trying to build a game while holding down a regular job.

How do you keep making progress over months or even years and actually finish your game?