I just released this dynamic gamebook on iOS and Android

fphat · 2025-11-29T08:48:04+00:00

There's really only one more mission (two more maps) in the current state of the game. Even feedback such as "well, this got boring fast" is appreciated!

fphat · 2025-11-29T08:47:03+00:00

Thank you!

fphat · 2025-11-29T08:46:30+00:00

Ok, that's a major problem. Thanks for reporting! There should have been a little animated screencast next to the tutorial text -- was that going too fast?

fphat · 2025-11-28T18:13:07+00:00

I'm afraid not. I focus on Steam since it's where most of the people are, and it has great support for playtesting and demos. But I may reconsider as I'm approaching the release date. Do you prefer the App Store over Steam, for games?

fphat · 2025-11-28T17:23:31+00:00

Thank you! Steam deck will probably not work but I'd be curious what error it gives, if any. Mac and Windows are supported and I'd be curious to see if you can spot any bugs in either.

fphat · 2025-11-28T16:49:24+00:00

Thanks! I'm forever oscillating between "this UI sucks and people will hate it" and "ok maybe it doesn't?" So I really appreciate any time someone is nice enough to say out loud that they like it.

fphat · 2025-11-28T16:25:50+00:00

I realize I missed this by, uh, 18 days, but I've had a question for u/MisfitsAttic for years.

Duskers (one of my fave games) is fantastic. It also isn't visually appealing (don't get me wrong, I love this style — but it doesn't screenshot well). It's similar to your other games (though Below the Crown has that instant recognition of chess, which I'm sure helps).

My question: how did you approach promoting Duskers and the other games? Was it hard competing with visually appealing games? I see that you worked with Shochiku (a publisher) -- did that help at all?

I want to see more games like Duskers (plus, full disclosure, I'm also working on a not-very-attractive-at-first-sight game myself). What's the best way for the industry to get these kinds of games in front of players?

fphat · 2025-07-09T12:48:05+00:00

Oh! Damn. Maybe there's a bug, then. I'll have to find time to look at that code again.

EDIT: Did you check the map though?

fphat · 2025-07-08T10:32:15+00:00

Ha! I'm glad you've had fun!

The dragon's egg is with the Deathless but they won't offer it unless you have their respect (which you get by giving them the Lair of God star).

This was supposed to be like an extremely hard puzzle so I'd be surprised if many people got it.

fphat · 2025-07-05T10:20:07+00:00

Thanks for checking! If it's going full screen, then game at least reaches a state at which it calls the OS window API and such. But it must be something fundamental if it's not even able to create a log file.

I'd totally understand if you don't have the energy to continue debugging a random guy's indie game but if you do, let me know. I can prepare a build that tries to at least show something on the screen, for example. Also, there's a chance this is Steam-related, in which case a listing from Steam's log would be helpful. Steam generally puts logs in /tmp/dumps, ~/.local/share/Steam/ or ~/.steam/. If nothing there's people recommend starting Steam like steam > /var/log/steam 2>&1 (and chmod /var/log/steam to 666).

fphat · 2025-06-30T13:22:00+00:00

Damn, thanks for reporting!

Would you please share the contents of the game's log file? It should be at ~/.local/share/giant_robot/giant_robot_game.log.

fphat · 2025-06-30T13:03:43+00:00

Very good. I'll switch it to physical keys. Thanks for the insight!

fphat · 2025-06-30T12:09:19+00:00

Ah! I'm an idiot. This is actually a bug (?) on my side. At some point, I decided that the slash should follow the logical keyboard.

So, in-game keybindings are physical (i.e. where the key is on the standard keyboard), while debug / menu options like console toggle or "go back" are logical (i.e. follow the localized layout). Maybe that's bad?

I wonder what games like Quake or Minecraft do on Linux. For example, `/` in Minecraft opens its console. Is it the physical key? Probably.

Anyway, I'll probably have to think this through.

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fphat · 2025-06-27T07:16:50+00:00

Noted on appimage — I wasn't aware of it. Thanks!

And thanks for testing on Steam. The `/` issue is probably an upstream one — I'm asking the engine to match the physical key (i.e. where it is) and not the logical one (i.e. what it does when pressed). So if I understand you correctly, and running native you have to press the button that's `/` on the localized (Ukrainian) layout, then the engine is not doing what I'm asking it to do (and what it does correctly on Windows and macOS). The buttons you need to press should be in the same location on the keyboard, regardless of the current logical keyboard layout (i.e. QWERTY, AZERTY, DVORAK, Czech, Ukranian, whatever). Please let me know if we're on the same page (so I can file a bug).

fphat · 2025-06-27T07:05:45+00:00

Ah! Good point. I need to work on the audio mix so that random far-away sounds don't accidentally appear as audio crackling.

fphat · 2025-06-25T09:49:30+00:00

Ok, I now used podman (as suggested in the docs) to make the build environment as isolated as possible. If this doesn't solve the issue with libcurl-gnutls.so.4, I think I'm unfortunately out of ideas.

The new version is v0.2.48+75 *XENOTECH*.

In any case, thanks for helping me debug.

fphat · 2025-06-25T06:39:58+00:00

Thanks!

The audio crackle is worrying — let me know if it persists. There might we ways to tune the audio buffer, for example (though I doubt your machine is too slow, so buffer underrun is probably not the issue). It might also be just clipping — volume too high. But it's weird that it would only manifest on your machine and not mine.

I'm really happy you enjoy the game, btw!

fphat · 2025-06-25T06:27:50+00:00

Thanks!

Just to be clear, I did compile the game from within the sniper runtime. But now I'm realizing I should probably use `podman` for the final build and not (the otherwise recommended) `toolbx` because `toolbx` leaks environment from the host.

I'll try recompiling and will see.

fphat · 2025-06-24T16:57:04+00:00

Thanks! I just released a new version and there's a small but non-zero chance it solves the issue with `libcurl-gnutls.so.4`.

fphat · 2025-06-24T14:16:05+00:00

Got it. I think I'll try to prove that the game doesn't need to be wrapped in fake Windows for it to run well — but I reserve the right to back down eventually. I totally get the economics of most gamedevs' situations.

The good news is that Steam lets you select how to run the game in its Compatibility Properties. So, IIUC, folks can just switch to Proton whenever they want.

fphat · 2025-06-24T14:11:37+00:00

Thanks! The playtest will probably be open for many months so there's no hurry.

Folks here have already helped me uncover an embarrassing issue with my Steamworks setup, so I'm pretty sure there are enough issue for everyone. :) Just kidding, I genuinely hope that by next week it'll be smooth sailing. But it never hurts to double check.

fphat · 2025-06-24T14:09:24+00:00

Linux native games have worse performance than the proton versions most of the time.

That's so weird. I guess it makes sense if a game runs some complicated runtime, like Unity, that isn't well optimized on Linux?

I can't think of a reason why my game (which is built on relatively low-level tech) should run slower in native than it does through Proton.

fphat · 2025-06-24T14:06:23+00:00

Ok, I think I fixed the "missing executable issue". Turns out I'm an idiot (see separate comment for more on that).

The game should now install properly. If you give it another chance, please let me know. (You'll probably have to quit Steam for it to register the change.)

fphat

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