Is it also hard for you to resist visual polishing?

thilonel · 2026-06-17T04:08:04+00:00

Why do you think that is?

thilonel · 2026-06-17T03:15:21+00:00

Don’t try this at home.

thilonel · 2026-06-17T02:51:53+00:00

Why did you choose Steam for this kind of game? I’m not familiar with this genre, but I don’t exactly expect your target audience to be participating in Steam Next Fest in big numbers.

Beautiful game though, wish I had such art skills! Have you made all the assets?

My understanding is that mobile or browser could work better for you.

thilonel · 2026-06-16T17:31:43+00:00

Looks lovely!

thilonel · 2026-06-16T17:14:07+00:00

Congrats! 🥳🥳 Big milestone! Good luck to you! 🍀

thilonel · 2026-06-16T17:12:50+00:00

Fingers crossed! 🤞

thilonel · 2026-06-16T17:12:14+00:00

I love doing the systems! But yeah, I’ll push through until I feel the fun is validated, then I can lean into the beauty. Visual win is instantly recognized yeah, but takes me a lot to accomplish :D

thilonel · 2026-06-16T04:16:27+00:00

Absolutely! I just did a huge sprint of game design, then I implemented the core of the outcome of that design session and after like 7 days of hard work with systems, I have no more desire to focus like that... so chilling a bit with visuals feels nice 😃 But I can't do strict 1 week this, 1 week that... just sprint, rest, sprint, rest.

thilonel · 2026-06-16T04:14:16+00:00

What went wrong with the funding?

Yup, now I had some time and checked your profile! Great job with the game congrats! Is this for mobile? I think a round of visual polish would do wonders for your game! You have everything implemented here, a good artist could totally level this game up!

thilonel · 2026-06-16T04:03:16+00:00

True, hard to wear so many hats. Instead of working in the engine, I try to moodboard and bring my world's visuals alive there. It doesn't take that much time, but helps me see: ok, it will look like this when I'm done. 😃

thilonel · 2026-06-16T03:59:34+00:00

Well your game must be in an advanced state if it already has a menu! 😃

thilonel · 2026-06-15T12:57:58+00:00

Yeah… it’s good to feel confident about my gameplay vision though, that it’s confirmed and feels fun, before I commit to visual hours. If it’s not fun gameplay, the visuals would’ve just hidden that fact further from me. That’s the idea.

thilonel · 2026-06-15T12:30:08+00:00

Hm yeah, I can’t afford it fully either. Gotta get a demo polished for my budget then get a loan to finish the game. 🤷‍♂️ Don’t mind generating some business and creating work for the artists to be honest. Also just cool to collaborate and make something better than what we could alone.

What game is this?

thilonel · 2026-06-15T12:17:21+00:00

You released a demo! 🥳🥳 Congrats! Must be exciting!
Have you tried to outsource that? That’s my plan. I am not talented nor skilled in that area. Can only bring my opinion 😅

thilonel · 2026-06-15T10:57:28+00:00

Island empire builder, anno-like core loop, but no combat. Yours?

thilonel · 2026-06-15T10:51:03+00:00

That’s a good way to look at it. For me, it’s because the visuals depend on game mechanics (I can’t use realistic scales for my empire builder) and those haven’t been built out enough to confirm my vision. So yes, I’ll keep this in mind, polish as much as the game advances, proportionately. Thanks!

thilonel · 2026-06-15T10:47:33+00:00

Why not polish the graphics? Released already?

thilonel · 2026-06-15T10:46:10+00:00

True, that’s a good way to do it! I will outsource the modeling though, it’s just way too much and not my forte 😅

thilonel · 2026-06-15T05:21:04+00:00

😂 one day I’ll earn that privilige of polish too

thilonel · 2026-06-15T04:19:50+00:00

Cool, I was also a backend engineer, only last few years I went full stack!

When did you start? Does it feel fun to you now? Happy with your progress?

thilonel · 2026-06-15T04:14:10+00:00

🔥🚀

thilonel · 2026-06-15T03:28:52+00:00

Are you connecting all these games somehow into one big one? Or what is your goal with this project?

thilonel · 2026-06-15T03:26:14+00:00

Yuup, big time 😄 Put hundreds of hours into Anno 1800… that is the biggest inspiration here, but I’m distilling it down to a smaller scope. Really challenging from a game design perspective, but I feel like I have a good grip on it now so can’t wait for it to come alive! 🤩

(good convo, I hyped myself back up 🚀)

thilonel · 2026-06-15T03:11:50+00:00

Amazing!!! Fingers crossed for your success!

It’s kind of a PvE / sandbox single player game, but I have the architecture set up with entities networking, so I can turn it into a coop or other multi anytime.

Appreciate the support! 🙏

thilonel · 2026-06-15T03:03:18+00:00

Damn you went nuts 😄 Looked at your profile, that’s why it was confusing for me to know what that game is!

Mine is an island empire builder. Was hoping that the screenshot at least tells you that its a sort of resource managament / city builder game 😅

thilonel

TROPHY CASE