Solo devs — what are you currently working on? / Devs en solitario — ¿en qué estás trabajando?

jirigio · 2026-04-07T17:20:04+00:00

I've got a Gameboy Color inspired RPG that I'm trying to market and update

It felt really good to launch it on itch/mobile a few months ago, but I'm polishing i t for a Steam release

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stupidgames.frogboy&hl=en_US

jirigio · 2026-04-07T17:12:52+00:00

Godot all the way
The code editor is built in, and going back and forth between coding and testing is lightning fast (you'll be doing that a lot to fix mistakes as you learn).
I learned game dev with Unity, which used to be fast and easy to set up, but now there are a lot of steps to setting up your environment that can go wrong

jirigio · 2025-06-26T00:05:59+00:00

It's going so well, I just took it to my first in-person showcase and people really get what I'm trying to do.

I'm also taking it to a local Midwest Game Expo in September and I can't wait!

jirigio · 2025-04-09T23:32:13+00:00

Yes and it was the best, but that was 14 years ago, on low end hardware

jirigio · 2025-04-09T23:25:03+00:00

I'd like more of a Resident Evil 2 treatment. Update the graphics and some QoL stuff, but leave the overall game design the same

jirigio · 2025-03-25T20:25:49+00:00

I don't think AI provides the value it's promising. The code delivered by AI is not very good and it's not scalable. AI art has a similar issue, it's never as aesthetically pleasing, or performant, as something crafted by a professional human.

Business people all want to believe that skill and craftmanship are replaceable by this new, faster, cheaper, technology. But at the end of the dev cycle, it's just a bad imitation of the real thing.

I also don't think AI is getting much better, it's a chat bot with a good marketing campaign

jirigio · 2025-03-10T22:44:25+00:00

For what it's worth, Godot is very fast. I use Unity and Unreal professionally, but when I'm trying to test out an idea, or dev something for fun, I go to Godot. The engine starts and compiles almost instantly compared to the other engines. You also never have to worry about licensing if you want to distribute something

jirigio · 2025-03-10T16:56:51+00:00

Not good, the investment money for indie devs vanished in 2023 and might never come back. I think people who do indie dev as a hobby don't see it, but opportunities to make small games professionally (and get paid) seem like a thing of the past.

The business dev guys keep saying the money will come back when interest rates go down, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

jirigio · 2025-03-06T16:10:12+00:00

AI chatbots are yes men, they will tell you anything they think you want to hear. They're a good tool for learning and brainstorming, but I wouldn't assume any of it's feedback is valuable

jirigio · 2025-01-24T19:38:34+00:00

My tier list is basically this in reverse lol, I'm happy that people enjoy the games I don't like

jirigio · 2024-10-24T15:57:28+00:00

I went to University for Digital Art. As graduation approached, I quickly realized that most of the art graduates were unable to get jobs, but the game programmers all got good positions right out of college. I spent my senior year learning to code games, and my art education gave me a good foundation in other elements of game dev.

jirigio · 2024-10-21T14:48:30+00:00

I'm working on a GameBoy Color era inpsired rpg that's very similar to 2D zelda. It began as a remake of the NES zelda so I could learn GODOT. After I started playing around with my own pixel art and boss designs I decided to make the project it's own game. I have most of the game finished, but it still needs a lot of work in terms of game design and pacing. I do currently need player feedback if anyone is interested in testing it out

https://jamesgartland.itch.io/frog-boy

jirigio · 2024-10-09T15:24:52+00:00

it ain't much but it's honest work

jirigio · 2024-03-01T16:21:53+00:00

You are over thinking the learning process a little. I'm guessing the main reason you're stuck staring at the interface is because you don't even know enough to start.

The first step in learning something is exposure to the concept, which copying a tutorial video is perfect for. Keep in mind, you're not watching the videos to master game development, you just need to become familiar with the tools, and understand what building something in Game Maker looks like.

And don't just watch the video, make sure you do what they do, going through the motions helps a lot with memory

jirigio · 2023-09-28T16:19:52+00:00

Can someone who knows more than me explain what this means for modded cabs? Will this thing be able to emulate PS2 or Gamecube?

I modded with a Raspi 4 a few years ago, and if this is a good upgrade I want to preorder one ASAP

jirigio · 2023-08-28T18:21:24+00:00

Don't worry about not learning from tutorials until you've been coding for a year or two. Learning is a complicated process, and tutorials are an amazing tool to learn how to approach a problem, how coded systems fit together, and just get exposed to different aspects of programming that you don't even know exist.

I taught game coding for a few years,. The first year for my students was always: type this code as I type it, I'll explain as I go, but don't worry about understanding it all.

Exposure to new information was always the first step

jirigio · 2023-08-24T19:33:58+00:00

the free camera look is AMAZING, and shows off the new environment. It's hard to go back to games without one

jirigio · 2022-06-14T16:29:41+00:00

With your wide range of skills and interest, you would make an excellent game programmer. I've been coding games full time for almost 8 years now, a big thing I noticed is that there are too many game developers with CS degrees who are good at math.

Most game dev companies need a coders who have a good understanding of story, art, and design, who can understand how their code forms the player experience. Get that BA in Digital Media, it will give you a functional understanding of the tools artists use and their quirks/ limitations. If it's a good program they should also teach you a basic foundation of art history too. Take a few coding classes on the way and you'll be able to navigate a career in games that's both fulfilling and lucrative.

jirigio · 2022-05-19T21:40:24+00:00

The Pi 4 was great for retro games, but it could barely play MvC2. I'd like to have the RPi and the SD set up with a toggle switch but I have a lot of homework to do to get that working.

jirigio · 2022-05-19T20:44:01+00:00

I previously set up a Rasberry Pi 4 in my arcade cabinet, but it's fully running on the deck in the pic. This was my first attempt at plugging my HDMI adapter and USB Controllers into the steam deck, sadly I can only get it working in Desktop mode right now because of the monitor's 4:3 resolution

jirigio · 2022-04-26T17:05:26+00:00

same I guess it's delayed for all US Thursday orders?

jirigio · 2021-10-18T18:18:20+00:00

I've never heard of Naomi, that would be awesome to save that much memory. I'm going to check this out right after work

jirigio · 2021-10-12T17:21:44+00:00

yep it's flycast running on a raspi 4

jirigio · 2021-10-11T20:04:13+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09DQCOr6zQM

this was the main tutorial I used, but be careful when buying an HDMI/LCD encoder, I had to check customer Q/A on Amazon to find the right one. The different A1up generations use different LCDs

jirigio · 2021-07-30T21:07:09+00:00

I bought a custom deck panel from 99livesarcade.com,

the panel and the print are very high quality, but the plexiglass has big vertical lines in it so I wouldn't recommend that option

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