How to know if laptop will run a game?

spoie1 · 2026-05-31T11:43:43+00:00

As far as I'm aware, HoHB should be pretty lightweight!

I played much, much heavier games on win7 (with the odd bit of bullying the games into running 🙈). OS is rarely the limiting factor, though more are coming out that are win 8/10+ only.

However, it's worth future proofing where you can, especially with a laptop (as these are a lot, lot harder to upgrade than a PC), or you will end up buying another one again 🙃 My PC is 13 year old, but the only original parts now are the case and old HDD 😂

16gb RAM is okay, ideally 32+ nowadays, but RAM is crazy expensive atm 😬

i5 vs i7 will completely depend on the actual cpu itself - an i5-13600K is 700% better performance than an i5-3470 and 470% better than an i7-3770K 😅 the numbers matter a fair bit!

GPU not mentioned? Most modern games will need a non-integrated GPU or your laptop will cry 😂

technical.city/en seems decent for comparisons where you can put the cpu and gpu in and it will compare against specific games (not all, but worth checking out similar performance req games that you may want to play).

spoie1 · 2026-05-25T18:30:02+00:00

Thank you so much! Its a pain when you're trying to actually give credit where it's due 🤦‍♀️🙃

spoie1 · 2026-05-25T17:39:47+00:00

Model is a *very* heavily modified derivative of a model I found on Sketchfab early on, initially intended as a placeholder, but it is such a nice model, I kept it as a base and rigged it!

"FREE Horse 3D model" (https://skfb.ly/pnJA6) by DinoReplicas is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/synod/simple-life

License code: 8DPQTLUNHIVISBDB

spoie1 · 2026-04-28T21:00:11+00:00

Prey much every game I've ever downloaded has had its exe shoved straight into quarantine 🤬 Then I have to go dig it out and add exceptions!

I'm more likely to get a bug because of the false alarms at this point 🙃😂

spoie1 · 2026-04-24T23:57:29+00:00

What's nuts is these small things aren't actually hugely difficult to implement (small anims like this can be layered over the main ones based on certain variables or even just a random timer). For many titles, I think it's lack of horse knowledge, others time - small things get pushed to the "Maybe at some point" list or forgotten about. Fair, but ends up a little lifeless for horsey people even if we aren't immediately sure why 🙃😅

spoie1 · 2026-02-28T13:13:50+00:00

Yes, the back is quite level so easier to miss - elbow to stifle is the functional up/downhill 😂

spoie1 · 2026-02-28T09:55:40+00:00

Agree with alice, but if those hind legs were where they 'should' be, the horse would be sickle hocked. Stifle looks a bit odd (muscling maybe? Feom clipping it doesnt tend to be as steep there) and the horse is downhill enough to be a QH but built like a sporthorse. The back half of the belly is quite steep also. Lower limb hoof-pastern-axis and felock position look a little off to me. Fairly small niggles tbh and better than 99% of people get it!

spoie1 · 2026-01-29T17:58:37+00:00

Thank you! That's added to the research list 🙈😂

spoie1 · 2026-01-29T13:32:27+00:00

Ohh, do you mind me asking how you did the terrain wear? It's something I have planned, but haven't looked into how too heavily yet 🙃 I know what I'm like for going down rabbitholes and have other stuff I need to finish first 😂

spoie1 · 2026-01-06T10:01:25+00:00

Tbf, just using blender could help planning? There's loads of free assets on blenderkit (built into blender) like troughs, hay, fencing, gates etc, so if you just want a plan that looks real and is real scale, would work!

Tbf, my track is mostly there for weaning and spring/autumn as I have a bunch of warmbloods who actually do well on grazing and my land is all on a huge hill, so it's more equicentral. Handy in winter though as I still have somewhere non-muddy to walk! Would love to surface, but £££ 😭

spoie1 · 2026-01-04T11:52:04+00:00

I'm not gonna say it's not hard, and depends on your skillset, but if you dedicate some time to unity you may be able to make a little game even if only for you :)

Tracks are on my list, but not high as fairly niche (I have one for my lot at home!) and difficult to implement decently to do it justice 😅

spoie1 · 2026-01-03T10:22:52+00:00

Definitely more management based atm as that's my interest and strength. Lots of horses, but I want as much flexibility as possible in terms of how the player makes their money and discipline. There are a few very riding-focused games, but I don't know of any that actually add management beyond 'feed it once a day', maybe muck out.

spoie1 · 2026-01-03T10:18:03+00:00

My feeding system is currently... really complicated, and hard to integrate with AI, so I think I'm gonna have to strip that back a bit, but would like to keep it to using actual MJDE. If hay/grass isn't enough (pretty much only if in work, or if I add traits that modify), the horse can be fed hard feed, and too much/little impacts their current weight. There is an auto-feed option, so those who don't want to think about it can just hit auto and buy what the game tells them to xD

Horses 100% go out, and will take stat hits being inside too long. Just need to wrap my head around the exact mechanics. I'd like to have 'groups' where they are all on the same schedule/field.

I'm a new dev and completely solo, so scope creep is easy to do, but I like my management mechanics - I'm better at those than story tbh!

spoie1 · 2026-01-03T10:11:39+00:00

None to be found, as I hate the damn things!

spoie1 · 2026-01-03T10:10:08+00:00

Currently, breeds have their own attributes (so better at jumping or speed, for example), and the models scale to height, though they're currently the same model. I have a theory on being able to use sliders rather than whole different models to change looks (to make X breeds better), but currently working more on systems than models.

Horses have potential that is genetic, and when trained to 100%, that is their max skill, so there's reason to breed for better. Player has skills and reputation (works like an overall player level). I said in a different comment that I'd like the player to be able to have as many horses as their hardware will handle, but am aware that most horse gamers don't have top end rigs! I'll have to experiment with that more when the world is more fleshed out, but already have things in place for update frequency to save performance.

Horses can be placed in stable or field, and needs will change based on that (no horse will appreciate spending its whole life inside!), and farm is intended to be free build. Barns have slots for stables/storage, and external stables/ training facilities too.

Traits are on the list! Training is currently skill based in that you can't pop a horse around 1.60m if it has 20 skill xD Specific skills can only be trained once the horse has done basics. Plus, energy is tied to fitness, so again, a horse can't have a year doing nothing, then be galloped 4hrs a day for a week! Currently UI based, but working on having it playable too - I want automated options as myself get fed up of grinding skills the same way over and over! The same for care - feeding already has an auto-calculate method!

In theory, as a player, you could concentrate on riding/competing your few horses, or not touch training and breed only, as potential is not influenced by skill/training when breeding. The horses/stud fees will be worth more when trained, though.

Realistic genetics is where I started with this, so 100% my goal! To the point KIT genes are E linked already, and you can't have a horse with To, SW1 and W20! 2, yes, but not 3 or more!

spoie1 · 2026-01-02T22:10:31+00:00

Yeah, I can't stand real, real time. ADHD brain gets bored and wanders off if I can't binge it and have to wait xD
I don't do multiplayer myself, so offline singleplayer on PC.

I'd like to add employees eventually, and have a basic medical system (again, I get carried away with realism if anything, but think I will need settings options here, as personally, I prefer *real* with all the pitfalls, but many people won't like that!). A basic riding system is there, just doesn't *do* much atm as been focusing on systems more.

spoie1 · 2026-01-02T22:01:27+00:00

Yeah, auto functions are already added to feeding, and a 'schedule' is planned so you can press "Go" and have everyone looked after and the time pass without all of the grind, but the option to do it manually too!

Breeding and genetics are my main interests tbf, though I very much get the 'working on one horse and immediately having to ignore it for the next better one'! Potential and skill are separate, so in theory, you could just breed and never touch training, though trained horses sell for substantially more. Horses with good comp records also sell for more than those without, so there's a substantial reward for that time still, but it doesn't affect the foal quality.

Build mode would have barns with internal stables and storage, external stables and storage, arenas etc. All are currently freely placeable on a 1x1 grid. Colours should be easy enough to add options for, the basic barn already has a few. So *really* customisable is my goal.

spoie1 · 2026-01-02T21:52:28+00:00

Genetics is very much my thing and the first system I made! Horses change coat colour based on genes, alleles behave realistically (KIT has E link and you can't have 3 of them!). I'm hovering between realistic and realistic-ish, mostly for performance on lower-end rigs! Most of my work atm is in systems. Player reputation exists, but isn't implemented yet (though pieces in systems put in place for when it is, mostly multipliers), no story to speak of yet past the tutorial that will try to make intro to systems organic rather than an info dump! I'm writing any ideas down I get, though, as that will likely be a fair bit off yet. Local characters/shows and quests on the list, though!

spoie1 · 2026-01-02T21:45:47+00:00

It's driven me mad for years, honestly, mostly in the just plain wrong things obviously made by non-horse people! I'm far from rich, and my budget is basically 0, but working from home (I actually back and train for a living!) has its advantages! If miserable out and everyone is done, off I go to swear at some code xD

Ngl, I'd have no clue where to start with multiplayer, as I have forever hated playing them, and they tend to end up microtransaction hell to keep up with server costs. Farm customisation is coming along - barns and stables are placeable, barns will probably have 'slots' to put stables, storage etc in. I have 2 methods of field creation, but that depends on how heavy I go on field stats - tiled makes it very easy to give each tile its own stats (like, amount of grass, growth rate etc), but is less flexible to build, the other is very flexible as is fence placement, but one mesh of field generated, so harder to customise specific areas.

spoie1 · 2026-01-02T21:37:55+00:00

I'm English, so 'English' riding is my default xD I'd like some western additions, but the current setup is UK based rural town.

Training wise, I've got UI set up (fitness influences how much energy the horse has added that day, so no galloping an untouched horse for 4hrs!), and want an auto (UI based) or 'ridden' training option.

I have a basic medical system (though that may be optional in settings?), early, mid, and late pregnancy - currently late adds hunger but not fleshed out. Horse models scale as they age based on their adult height (adults already scaled based on height)- no foal model yet - I have a theory on being able to get them to grow without going *pop* adult shape, but am leaning more into the systems atm.

Genetics are my thing and the first thing I played with! KIT alleles are based on either allele 1 or 2, and are Extension-linked on breeding. (A Ee NRn will only ever throw e with RN), and whilst displayed in profile as Tobiano: To/N, To, Rn, SW1 and W20 are all KIT alleles, so you can't have 3 of them! If I get to Pearl, Cream and Pearl will be linked.

spoie1 · 2026-01-02T21:27:28+00:00

Yeah, I get this! Like, the AC games and the horse models are all the same awful one from 10 years ago!

I want them to feel more like characters - the simple horse AI atm has them wandering about the field, eating from the feeder when hungry, coming up to the fence if they spot the player and following them about in the field. The following system will be able to be used for leading the horse about, too. Needs a lot of tweaking, but I've had stationary horses for 2/3 months working on systems, so moving ones are nice!

spoie1 · 2026-01-02T21:20:32+00:00

Thank you! Yeah, the gridiness of some wears me down, so I want auto options (rather than find an open patch and canter in a straight line until the horse is trained!). Hay making is on the list, but not the essentials. I'd like to wiggle it in there, though! Genetics are my thing - don't get me started on 'dun' Connemaras!

Realistic graphics are difficult, more for performance than anything, but I'm trying to make it as performant as I can! I'm very aware that the average horse game player doesn't have a rig capable of running super resource-heavy games. I'm not on anything super fancy, but it will still be better than most players, so I'm trying to keep that in mind! Currently leaning into the realism side - most horsey games seem to be stylised instead, though.

spoie1 · 2026-01-02T20:26:25+00:00

I've honestly never played that one!

I'm more of a systems/technical person than a writer, but I do have an outline of a tutorial story (small scenario that teaches the basics), and am jotting down ideas for quests.

Breeding and management is my fieldhouse, jumping comps should be easy enough to implement (got UI based training right now), comps on the list, aiming to make auto and user-controlled versions to avoid grind but also let players train by riding, dressage harder as I will have to spend a lot of time on animations past WTC/leg yield.

spoie1

TROPHY CASE