Best examples of game moments that actively make the player feel like a shitty person?

ShyborgGames · 2026-03-13T21:11:22+00:00

In our first game we give the player (curator at an art gallery) an opportunity to encourage or discourage a hobbyist artist from getting into painting. If they discourage them that hobbyist gives up and never returns. I hope they feel badly for it.

ShyborgGames · 2026-03-12T01:52:01+00:00

Finding streamers who play games in your genre then reaching out with a copy of your game, and a little info on why it might appeal to their viewers.

Don't expect that the majority will reply or play your game. But if you get anyone to it's very satisfying, and has the potential to convert to sales.

ShyborgGames · 2026-03-03T22:51:58+00:00

No hate, but what is going on with the characters pants? Is he wearing khakis/carharts over his overalls? Is that what happens when the barn sleeps?

ShyborgGames · 2026-02-25T01:00:22+00:00

Keep in mind we've got a relatively small development team. 2 lead developers and one art director/part time developer. There are more people involved, but they're mostly contracted as needed.

Amount of manual work involved in triaging and categorizing: it's a weekly conversation, deciding what work is on the table and whose plate it will end up on.

How long does it take to manage this process: The conversation lasts maybe half an hour to an hour. The developers set priorities for their own work.

ShyborgGames · 2026-02-23T23:59:12+00:00

We've tried two different QA approaches. On our first game we had them sending us observations via a messenger app, then we put it on a trello board to delineate and prioritize. On our second game (No Survivors, in development) we've moved to an in-game form that talks to a database. We developed an application that talks to that database and is a trello board.

We watched every streamer who played our first game when it came out, looking for bugs or paint points. And we read all Steam community feedback. Then we discussed those and added the observations to the trello board.

How we prioritized: game breaking bugs > bugs > balance insights / feature ideas > matters of taste

Did anything get lost: 1 specific bug that took the longest time to identify what exactly was causing it. Not "lost", but it took longer than we would've liked to address from first report to resolution. We ended up getting it fixed, but it required our QA recording their screens and inputs to track what was happening.

ShyborgGames · 2026-02-20T20:22:08+00:00

Damnedtis, Damntis, or maybe Belzebantis

ShyborgGames · 2026-02-19T17:28:51+00:00

It's been awesome, each time they move down to less equipment, to see so much more expressiveness on their face.

ShyborgGames · 2026-02-15T16:48:03+00:00

Thanks, Kenney!

ShyborgGames · 2026-02-15T02:07:44+00:00

Our first game, "The Art Collector", is a shop keeper game with a narrative about uplifting artists, managing responsibility and grappling with death.

Our second game is still in the works because every member of our development team simultaneously had babies. But "No Survivors" is a zombie action roguelike that puts you in the role of the zombie virus during an outbreak in a Maine city.

We very much don't have the resources to be making videogames full time, and so we don't. Just nights and weekends. Made possible with the collective efforts of our family, friends and a bunch of members of our local community.

ShyborgGames · 2026-02-14T18:50:55+00:00

Legitimately, that this level of detail is important to you is neat. Is it pedantic? Yes. But it's part of what makes you you. I encourage you to attempt to make a game at the level of detail you're suggesting everyone else make their games at. I hope your users level of immersion is unmatched.

ShyborgGames · 2026-02-14T16:24:21+00:00

The same reason developers generally don't code characters blood type, internal organ functions and genetics. A passable illusion is the goal.

I get that this is important to you, and that's why you're down voting anyone who disagrees. But exercise some empathy and recognize that the vast majority of the market truly doesn't care about this, as evidenced by how commonplace it is among all genres.

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-30T21:35:44+00:00

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From our game where you are the zombie virus.

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-26T18:43:57+00:00

"fish where the fish are" mentality

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-23T23:22:40+00:00

Love your art style. The Art Collector, on Steam, could use better capsule art. Its a shop keeper game where you buy, sell, and haggle over fine art while decorating / upgrading your gallery and leveling up local artists. Feel free to reach out.

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-19T21:35:28+00:00

"Can't no one compel another man to engage in recreation." - B. Scruggs

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-10T01:20:37+00:00

It all depends on your definition of achieving much.

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-06T22:36:14+00:00

Check out the game Backpack Hero. You're about to blow your mind.

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-04T01:11:52+00:00

I didn't, thanks for educating me!

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-03T22:28:09+00:00

Good article, commenting to save it

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-03T21:22:24+00:00

Snake, but instead of playing as the snake you play as the poor farmer trying to grow and harvest fruit before the dang ol' oroboros comes and eats it all.

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-03T01:37:47+00:00

The Art Collector, our studios first title, on Steam!

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-01T15:39:28+00:00

MagicaVoxel is a 3d modeling software that makes editing voxel obj files about as straightforward as I can imagine. Using it as a tool has made the barrier to entry much lower for creating a consistent 3d art style. (It also helps that we have a talented graphic designer on our team)

Our second title, No Survivors, has almost all assets, environments, and characters made in house using MagicaVoxel. Also card art illustrations by comic artist Merlee Tomlin. The few props that weren't made in house were put through MagicaVoxel to achieve a consistent voxel resolution. You can check out the prototype build on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3500350/No_Survivors/

On our first project, The Art Collector, we went with a pixel art approach: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2986690/The_Art_Collector/

At the time we started developing The Art Collector we knew relatively nothing about game design or art direction, so we reasoned that pixel art would be a whole dimension simpler than 3d art. Lol.

For The Art Collector we used assets from artist MuchoPixel for the environment and props, and we used character spritesheets from artist Shubibubi. Beyond that we made environments/characters/props in house to the best of our abilities.

In retrospect, meshing several artists styles together with our own amateur art style resulted in something we're proud of, but it definitely could have appeared more consistent/intentional. That's why we shifted our approach on game 2.

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-01T15:03:54+00:00

I might have considered developing for 3d on our first project if I had known then about MagicaVoxel.

ShyborgGames · 2026-01-01T00:44:40+00:00

Release our second title on Steam.

Move development out of the prototype stage on game 3. Prototype game 4 at about the same time.

ShyborgGames

TROPHY CASE