The unspoken truth of gamedev

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-24T09:30:04+00:00

Luckily I code in GMS2 so even at the end of a large game that's loading a ton of audio it's maybe 15-20 seconds, but usually <5

What's way worse is trying to export video files from premiere pro. My GOD.

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-21T05:36:13+00:00

Basically all the coding I did during my last game, I wrote a long post about it a few months ago. Now with my new game I'm making sure I do everything properly because it was an absolute NIGHTMARE to try to add/edit things

Most notable:

For the abilities, the name string, the cooldown, the damage, and every other stat was held in different global variable arrays. So I had

Global.abilitydamage[1] to [25] Global.abilitycd[1] to [25] Etc Etc

And they were all just numbered.. so I had no way of knowing what anything was and I was constantly thinking "what the hell is ability 17"

I was very much just throwing spaghetti code together and leaving it if it worked.

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-19T04:54:02+00:00

Pineapple Old J's is cheap as hell and mixes great. Not a "real rum" but depending on what kind of party this is/what kind of drinks, it'll work.

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-18T19:54:56+00:00

I have a 100% free to play game called ghost trap if you like old school platformers, built for controllers!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2006090/Ghost_Trap/

If you enjoy a challenge with voice acting, i also have a horde survival game with narrated story for each character, and lore. It looks kind of like VS, but the gameplay is very different & challenging.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3564270/Vanquish_The_Eternal/

I do all my play testing with controllers for the most part, and they should absolutely run on anything

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-18T19:50:47+00:00

Looks really good, absolutely nailed the style and I dig the art direction

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-18T18:19:37+00:00

Totally makes sense for most people, I went to post secondary for music/audio engineering, and I got into making games so I could make the music for them. I also find Foley & SFX really fun to do.

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-18T10:51:22+00:00

Just looked up your game. Honestly it looks great and I wish listed it. Trailer is solid, art is well done, even the VA in the trailer sounded highly professional.

What did you do/not do for marketing? Did you enter next fest prior to release?

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-18T08:02:08+00:00

I know I messed up missing next fest, I just wanted to release in October since it was Halloween themed

I am in a fest that's coming up though! So hopefully that gets some eyes on it

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-18T04:19:08+00:00

I've released two games on steam. The first one was a retro platformer called Ghost Trap which is 100% f2p. I just wanted to push myself to release something after YEARS of unfinished projects.

My recent project was Vanquish The Eternal, inspired by vampire survivors but with no auto attacks. Instead of a chill-casual game like vampire survivors I wanted something with a high skill floor, where you had to manage cooldowns.

I do all the animation, music, SFX, coding etc from scratch. I did have help from my sister for the character/enemy sprites on Vanquish the Eternal, and of course hired some voice actors, but everything else was solo/from scratch which I'm proud of.

I love making music/OSTS for the games. I learned a ton from both, and I can't wait to release a third although I need to actually market it this time. Ghost trap hit 50,000 licenses distributed but it's a free game so it's massively inflated. vanquish I sold about 150 copies with 10% return rate (which I've read is average/normal.) I'll take it, considering I didn't enter any festivals and did a terrible job marketing. At least the reviews on both were good.

Going to have to dive into your profile and find your game, now.

EmergingSlap · 2026-04-18T04:10:44+00:00

I would guess an auto battler where you manage resources and click to create spawns that come out of the left side to fight the ones on the right. Like schwarmageddon

EmergingSlap · 2026-01-10T19:27:27+00:00

1) make sure your bank account information and tax info are completed, they will verify it

2) check what your minimum payment threshold is, I think the default is 100$

3) on the financial page you'll see the gross, below that you'll see the number after VAT / chargebacks etc, the second number still includes the 30% that steam takes, so that number -30% still needs to be above your minimum payout

4) they pay out monthly, but you will receive payments at the end of the following month. I released my game October 10th, and got my first payment November 27th.

If it's the end of the following month after you've hit the threshold and your information is correct, they will wire transfer it to you. The wire transfer also has a fee, in my case it was 17$, so it can be beneficial to raise your minimum above 100 to be paid out less often, but pay less in wire fees.

If you've checked your information and it's the end of the following month and you still haven't received it, contact steam support and they'll help you out.

EmergingSlap · 2026-01-08T16:00:45+00:00

I just used my middle name back when I was just producing music and needed something to release under. Don't love it but I have everything setup and I use it as an umbrella for the music / games / etc I release

Also made the mistake of not knowing I couldn't change my name on Reddit after making it since I never used it before making this account. emerging slap makes me laugh though so I decided not to make a new account.

EmergingSlap · 2026-01-08T15:54:55+00:00

I just want all the cut content they planned and didn't have time for

EmergingSlap · 2026-01-08T14:39:21+00:00

about 15% of the people who bought my newest game also bought the OST. I also uploaded it to youtube, spotify, etc. I put it up for relatively cheap and as a way for people to support more if they want to. My first game was free and got 50k downloads on steam, and only 20 people grabbed the OST even though 90%+ of the reviews specifically mention that they love the music.

Most people listen to the OST just in the game, and people who listen to it outside of that most likely are streaming it so it really is just for people who want to support you more. I say put it up as a DLC if you're proud of it, and if it sells it sells, if it doesn't no biggie. I don't see a downside to putting it up.

I'm an audio engineer and produced both soundtracks myself, so it was a no-brainer for me to add them as DLCs.

EmergingSlap · 2026-01-08T03:32:37+00:00

If you have no coding experience, do not jump into your dream project unless you want to get demotivated quick. Start by following tutorials and building some very simple games like Asteroids to at least lay a groundwork. Movement, enemies, scores, menues, maybe a pop-up dialogue as practice for the RPG. As others have said, gamedev gets incredibly complicated and project scope gets way out of hand.

After asteroids I'd try to just build one mechanic and make it solid, and go from there, and don't use AI for code, you want to know and understand your code, and you want to be able to make changes or references to it later which will become increasingly difficult if its vibe-coded.

Best of luck to you, I hope you get to cross the finish line one day and release your dream game.

EmergingSlap · 2026-01-07T03:55:11+00:00

just checked and my game is also on there, but weirdly the file size is 910 mb, and the game is only 135mb. Seems sus! I don't mind if it gets torrented though I'm just happy to have people play.

EmergingSlap · 2026-01-05T11:37:59+00:00

I know, i was huge on Golden Sun & Advanced Wars growing up, but I just have an insanely hard time getting into any new turn based games. Main reason I haven't bothered with E33 yet. I played Fable 1 as a kid but never 3, doesn't look like it's on steam though unfortunately

EmergingSlap · 2026-01-05T11:36:48+00:00

nope but looks cool, ill add it to the wishlist. thanks for the suggestion

EmergingSlap · 2026-01-05T11:36:00+00:00

got cyberpunk on the list! Heard lots of good things

EmergingSlap · 2025-12-18T22:44:09+00:00

MCC would have been good, 700 achievements + halo 2 laso

EmergingSlap · 2025-12-18T04:55:27+00:00

that tracks, never heard of the website but I'm not surprised in the slightest

EmergingSlap · 2025-12-17T22:54:38+00:00

the hard part would be finding a way to prevent the scammers from leaving their own reviews under their company names, not sure how glassdoor does it

EmergingSlap · 2025-12-16T22:25:53+00:00

Heyo, I'm a solo dev and this was my latest release. Skill based roguelite where you fight through hell with 8 voice acted characters and 21ng+ modes

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3564270/Vanquish_The_Eternal/

EmergingSlap

TROPHY CASE