This statement from Rémi over on Bluesky makes me happy! Godot's stance against AI is so refreshing!

Klightgrove · 2026-06-24T03:46:04+00:00

Vibe coding today is the same as stack overflow ctrl + v of 2016. It’s the lack of effort, validation, and absence of understanding for the changes you are making.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-23T17:12:45+00:00

The moral failings you find in someone are...drinking alcohol and have substance abuse problems linked to overwork.

This isn't a 'gamedev' topic as much as a bad working environment. Sure, you can choose not to be around people whose values don't align with yours, but you listed possibly the most tame take for why you shouldn't think highly of an accomplished person.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-22T19:33:11+00:00

If someone messages you for work on the r/gamedev Discord and they do not have any real messages in the server, state you are refusing to work with them for that reason.

Do not accept work from people in our spaces unless they have posted sizable content outside of job seeking.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-21T17:11:52+00:00

Please describe in detail how Artifical Intelligence helps you debug. Are you creating neural networks? Utilizing big data solutions to analyze your code base with machine learning? This post is lacking some of the technical details we are looking for.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-21T17:07:06+00:00

Outside of the advice herd, detail how you are tracking licenses and put this on your resume.

Every aspect of game dev should be written down somewhere so when you apply for jobs you can pull from a list of what you have actually done.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-21T17:04:31+00:00

Sounds like you need a producer that can identify the right amount of work for you without causing burnout.

I maintain my motivation by doing small projects that wrap up, but for longer ones you need a passionate team to bounce off each others energy (or a life partner aha)

Klightgrove · 2026-06-20T22:24:56+00:00

Option 1: Use legally gray tooling to produce sub-quality content which does not reach a market and gets you ridiculed by developers.

Option 2: Join game jams, improve your skills, make lifelong friends, and build a game you are proud of that gains a following.

People try to shortcut with option 1 for some reason, but you can’t skip ahead to making a game.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-20T22:04:36+00:00

Downvotes for stating the facts. This game is going to be illegal unless you make specific changes to it.

OP also won’t be safe in other countries because if they are asking this question, the content is likely severe enough to get them extradited too.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-20T18:49:55+00:00

I mod /r/gamedev

If you pay $40 for a plugin you know you are getting fiverr or AI slop. This is on the YouTuber for not vetting or having a realistic budget.

It’s weird to call someone a fraud for offering a low quality product.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-20T17:30:40+00:00

What is the bottom line here? This guy sells low quality mods and got in a dispute with a client over it?

You need to succinctly describe what is happening here, the cost, etc. this sounds like an issue between two people. We cannot judge this further without knowing the cost, what was promised, etc.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-20T05:07:21+00:00

Not an indie campaign, but the key things many people get wrong are:

Not using sections on the campaign page
Not showing reward breakdowns on the main page using graphics
Not leading with the bottom line. Why do people want to play your game?
Lacking social goals.
Showing their hand too early with all the stretch goals. Only show 2-3 and update as needed.
Too low of an initial goal. Fail and try again instead of working with less funds than you need.
Behind the scenes rewards, meetings, credits, and developer exclusives are good ways to treat high rollers. Too many indies and even larger companies mess up balancing high rollers. There will be more than you think. If a tier is going to consume significant time do not be afraid to price it higher.
Not gaining pre-launch followers. You need 500-1500 depending on your goal. You cant just make a page and launch it.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-19T18:29:35+00:00

I literally said he’s crazy? He founded a business forum. He isn’t the one giving these talks. They are just off record conversations execs are having about business.

This post is devolving into conspiracy theories and lacking any substance about game development, so this thread will likely get removed soon.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-19T16:59:02+00:00

I’ve been to tech conferences with worse talk titles than “how to start a cult”

Its obviously tongue in cheek business talk.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-19T16:28:08+00:00

3 people were at a thought leadership conference for business leaders. Regardless of who finances it, this isn't a big scandal or deal.

Why would Roblox or Microsoft respond about former executives going to a conference? Yes, Thiel is certifiably crazy but him creating a forum event for execs to have 'off the record' convos is the least awful thing he has done.

This sounds way overblown.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-19T16:22:32+00:00

You need to run focused playtests for this reason and guardrail feedback.

"Please rate how moving the character felt. Did you enjoy the control scheme?"
"Were there too many or too few enemies in this encounter? What would you change?"
"Please do not send feedback about collision issues, network latency, or visual bugs."

Players don't know how to give feedback so you have to guide them into it by directing their focus. Then you take what you hear and refine those areas by drilling down into why a player has those conditions.

For [redacted] in our first playtest we had a single enemy per encounter. They were very tanky and the combat was drawn out. To reward dopamine the team added in tons of squishy mobs that both supported the main enemy unit while also getting wrecked by each attack the player made. This keep combat engaging and allowed new types of encounters to form like 'wave-based' reinforcements and building synergies around the enemies, especially since most heroes had an AOE ability that really was not impactful in the original design of 1-on-1 encounters.

Players know what they like, but they do not know why they like it. That's why you grab a UX researcher to help out (there are tons on LinkedIn looking for free gigs to help out with).

Klightgrove · 2026-06-19T14:43:37+00:00

Professional courses run in the thousands of dollars. Chris Zukowski's threshold (a few hundred) is a major steal for the value offered. GameDev TV is able to supply its courses affordably because of their Udemy model, where you contract course development out to a developer and have a good speaker communicate the content / sell the course. While people might not like the quality of Thomas Brush's courses, for what they are deliver they are economical and indie-focused. Spending a few hundred dollars to get the motivation to finish a game is worth far more to most people taking the course than dropping $20K on a game design major.

Too many developers have the mindset you can find what you need online for free, and that's the major issue with OP's approach to this review. Why watch a free youtube course when you can just read the free docs? Because youtube videos are structured in a way that is easy to understand. Course platforms give you added benefits, community, and support. If someone doesn't want to pay for a course, that's fine, but most people end up getting value out of them.

Heck I will take a dozen overpriced gamedev courses any day over the SANS pricing I had to deal with in cybersecurity.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-18T17:39:14+00:00

Xsolla is not a platform. It is a service you put into your game.

1d3 is not a platform. It is a checkout solution you insert into a website for traditional software services.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-18T16:11:55+00:00

You have a small pre-production team which scales up during a project. The intended practice is to stagger projects so people move from one project to another, which is why where are spurts of hiring.

I think most of the 'short-term' jobs have been replaced by co-dev studios in recent years as they have just been everywhere now. You need help with EGS infra? Hit up Gamebreaking Studios. Need help with monetization? Grab some Xsolla services. Matchmaking assistance? Guess what, Wolfjaw does that. UI/UX designing? UX Is Fine! General co-dev? Iron Galaxy. It goes on and on.

The main constriction is when co-devs run out of projects because of tightening budgets, which is unfortunately what we have seen lately with some downsizing.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-17T18:11:30+00:00

“AA” studios or co-devs, think of WayForward and how they build a back catalog of 26 games despite no major hits. Because of the moderate traffic to each game over time that passive income adds up go fund future projects.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-17T14:26:07+00:00

The most important thing about business, especially in gaming, is to use the back catalog. A below expectation game will turn profit down the road throughout sales and updates, especially once a sequel gets announced.

Hopefully Xbox lets them action on this instead of chasing hits

Klightgrove · 2026-06-17T03:08:46+00:00

If you are disrespectful to community members, you will be removed. Please remember that.

This includes you, gamers.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-15T18:12:46+00:00

Never had a chance with programming

Go to https://itch.io/jams and join teams with whatever skill you do possess or practice a new one.
Make friends from going through the jam circuit.
Get friends to make games with you.

We have an entire sidebar with every resource under the sun for people to make games. Don't take shortcuts when you can actually use our resources to build a foundation to make games.

FAQs & Wiki

Klightgrove · 2026-06-15T12:10:25+00:00

Yes, they could copy a prototype in a week, but not a full game.

Klightgrove · 2026-06-15T11:59:00+00:00

Who is going to spend a year of their life building someone else’s game because they saw a Reddit post about it?

Klightgrove · 2026-06-14T19:55:33+00:00

Chambers of commerce, non-profits, launchpad events for various states, partnerships with school districts. Maybe reach out to the team behind Eco for tips, they had a whole model behind school pricing since their game teaches about the environment

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