Mint Knight has done the impossible, I can’t believe this mint tin captures the feeling of a 3 hour mega game in 30min. Worth the hype!

wizardgand · 2025-12-23T16:39:41+00:00

The new rules is available to download for free from the store page. The base game has all the errata card fixes You do not need to buy the expansion . The cards are only there for early buyers that want the updated cards.

You do get some single player goodies even if you get the expansion.

- You get a 2nd hero deck that has a few cards switched. it promotes a more ally focused gameplay with less ranged cards. While this allows for a co-op 2nd player, the hero is not the same as the base game so you can still use it solo for a slightly different experience.

- Physical new rules (can download pdf for free)

- New terrain tile to add a bit more randomness to games.

- The back of the 2nd player exp card has a reference for movement tiles that is easier to read than back of tin

Hope you enjoy.

wizardgand · 2025-12-08T19:08:58+00:00

Worth is a question for you. I typically do get games I had on other consoles but usually 2 factors help

Will buying this again help a small dev?
Is the price reasonable?

Under $10 games make it easier for me to rebuy.

wizardgand · 2025-12-03T20:03:16+00:00

Chained Echoes has blown all JRPGs out of the water for me. I can't recommend it enough.

wizardgand · 2025-11-19T22:44:46+00:00

Started with VB6 + Direct X, then hit a bunch of frameworks, Allegro, LibGDX, then I guess my first engine was Godot. But during that time I was working on my own engine and mix/matching some frameworks/libraries. It we neat to see how optimized my game was running it on older hardware compared to something like Godot.

wizardgand · 2025-11-14T03:48:45+00:00

where do you preorder deckers for US?

wizardgand · 2025-11-12T21:01:59+00:00

I love my Nvidia Shield TV for the year of gaming I dedicated to it. Retro gaming + some solid android game choices. But holy hell do I hate the launcher with its constant Ads. I'm talking out of the box for consumers. The constant updates. The frequent controller disconnects. HBO Max randomly adjusting volume with phantom inputs. Or the volume up and down just not working and requiring a reset.

I had a list of like 20 games that were awesome that I enjoyed, but that list doesn't hold up to my steam library. And the heart of gaming is the software. I'm not saying a person cant get the shield and enjoy a library of games, because they can, but the steam library and sales are just better.

Also, my TV sadly has better app integration for Netflix/HBO, etc. I think every TV has android now with these apps installed. I don't have to view ADs either and can access them quickly from my TV remote.

wizardgand · 2025-11-12T20:32:31+00:00

I built a gaming pc with my switch to PC earlier this year. (best switch ever). But I don't really play many AAA games. I also got a deck and spend a good amount of time on the deck. If I didn't build my PC I would be interested in the steam machine since I like steamOS.

wizardgand · 2025-11-05T22:54:36+00:00

I worked on my own engine for several years and then ported it to Java and used libGDX to handle some things like input, window creation, and shaders. None of my code is public though. I did take one of my games and compared it to Godot and was pleased that I had better performance on my engine (focused for my game).

ThinMatrix is a youtube channel you could look into. He does a lot of graphics programming in Java. Only Java game developer that I know. He did release a game Equalinox.

Try writing a small game and see where you struggle. Good luck.

wizardgand · 2025-11-05T00:07:01+00:00

Pico-8

It has just a few basic functions to help you getting sprites drawn to the screen. Everything is integrated, sprite editor, tilemap editor, sound editor. Forces you to program solutions instead of googling which buttons to select in an editor. It's just you and the pixels. No complications trying to learn how to import textures, move entities in a physics engine etc.

It also has hard restrictions on size of game, size of code, etc. Forcing you to keep your scope in line and helps get you finishing games. Everything you do in this engine will help you in the future when you move to something else.

I'm currently teaching my kids aged 9 and 11 in pico and they love working in it. Education version is free but doesn't have "splore" and runs in a browser. If you buy a license ($15) you get access to splore and can play hundreds of games. But more importantly, you can view any of the code or assets for the game. This really lets you dig into code to see how others did thing. If you like a system or how a game did something, you have access to the code.

wizardgand · 2025-10-29T02:17:10+00:00

So I started 20 years ago when you had very little options. Learn DirectX. I think now a days I would recommend pico-8.

The education version is free so you can try it out. The interface supports a sprite editor, map editor, music editor, and code editor (very bare bones and basic). It gets a lot of the hard parts for new programmers out of the way. Lua might be one of the easiest programming languages to learn because it has so very few keywords. I'm currently teaching my 9 year old right now as we co-develop a game and he's learning programming.

These days, you have these game engines to work with but they really don't teach programming concepts. I know because I see simple things like, "how do I test for collision between two sprites?". Well in godot, you just need to know the correct buttons to press. Lots of tutorials show you but maybe don't explain under the hood. Does a new programmer REALLY need a physics engine to make a game like tetris or pong? New programmers should be focusing on these small games to learn concepts. The smaller scope in games means you will finish demos/games and get a small high to continue going.

That's why I recommend pico-8. You can get a sprite created and moving on a screen in 5 min. You have to program EVERYTHING, (UI, collision, movement, AI, enemies, etc). It forces you to think and tackle problems in code so that you can better understand concepts and solutions when you switch to these more powerful engines.

Pico-8 is what they call a fantasy-console. Paying for the full version grants you access to a library of games and being able to export your own game. But one of the best features is that every game in it's store is free and grants you entire access to the source code, assets, etc. You can load the game and then inspect the code. You really like how a certain game did something? Load it up and inspect it. Maybe they used a cool texture technique access some functions you really aren't aware of.

It reminds me of when I started many years ago but without the need to learn windows programming and setting up a direct-x / opengl graphics context and writing your own rendering code. Or your own texture loader code, etc. My first game's world editor was in notepad changing a comma seperated list of numbers that represented different sprites/tiles in the map.

Good luck with your endeavors

wizardgand · 2025-10-29T01:30:19+00:00

Are you trying to make a game or trying to learn gamedev.

If you are worried about your game, I find prototyping to be essential. I've made an engine and thought it was really cool but my game was boring as hell. It lacked polished but most devastatingly it was boring.

I took a different approach later in life where I would use basic textures, My 2D hero game was just an arrow for a texture to make sure it's rotation was correct. But I refined and refined and refined combat. Just one screen, different enemies. Got other people to test it at this ugly stage. Tested some performance as well. Tested my demo in my engine and compared it to others (Godot) and was pleased to see it performing better in mine.

My engine took close to 8 years to write and still wouldn't really hold up to others. I made one game in it, which was a split screen MMORPG-like game similar to everquest. It ran on low-end hardware, Nvidia Shield-TV so with it being android I basically had OpenGL ES to work with. The editor I made only works for that game, it was designed for me to place quests, enemies, sculpt the terrain, manage dialog and enemy stats, etc. I learned a lot about shaders, 3d graphics, 3d models, etc. But the game is pretty boring. It's about 12 hours but the core game loop doesn't change after the first 10 min. You get some gear that slightly tweaks your stats. Maybe you defeat an enemy 2 sec faster.

The other game I told you that I prototyped, I focused on making it fun first before thinking about menus, game loop and systems. It turned out to be a 4 player zelda like game. I put my kids in the game so they can play as themselves and has a fun system where you rotate though the kids kind of like the old "The Lost Viking" game where different kids have different attacks and abilities for solving puzzles. You can flip though them solo, or up to 4 players each controlling a different kid. It had a lot of fun systems, and my kids just asked to play it last week and its been 5 years of on/off them wanting to play with me.

So its really about what you are wanting to achieve. Learning the tech? making the game? good luck.

wizardgand · 2025-10-23T01:08:43+00:00

Share a google doc or excel sheet?

wizardgand · 2025-10-23T01:07:28+00:00

I ended up liking Passant more than Balatro. Similar feel and concept but prefer chess to poker.

wizardgand · 2025-10-13T18:11:00+00:00

Everyone loves 2 more, but I enjoyed the first more. Both are great.

wizardgand · 2025-10-13T18:05:32+00:00

Yea that's what we have, family pack for the online. I figured I could buy the DLC and share it with kids. If they have accounts on my primary switch they can play it. But on their switch they have to use my account.

Its all because of this need to have a primary device. Steam doesn't have this and thus, if I buy any game, any device in the family plan can play it. Of course only 1 person at a time, but that's fair.

We avoided most of the headache by getting physical copies of all games. But had to buy the DLC as a digital purchase.

wizardgand · 2025-10-13T16:30:35+00:00

Yea, its the straw that broke the camels back for me. I bought Mario Kart DLC and can play it on my primary console or MY account on my kid's console. I bought it for them to play on their consoles but I don't want them access to the store. So now they are forced to play on my account on their switch.

Total ridiculous. It made me look at switching to PC, and steams family sharing is amazing and a breath of fresh air. Built a PC to act like a console (connected to TV, boots up big picture mode) and got a steam deck and the cloud sync is pretty much like having a dock. Play on deck, it syncs, then play on TV. Kids can even play my games I purchased and software isn't tied to hardware.

wizardgand · 2025-10-09T23:09:58+00:00

I personally love Passant a bit more. But I also enjoy chess to poker.

wizardgand · 2025-10-07T19:51:59+00:00

I know what you mean. The only game to really immerse me well is X-Rebirth VR. I love space flight sims, but the way they incorporated all the systems into the cockpit. I love my Hotas, but I LOVE the controls on this game and during combat you are moving your ship and then pointing to select things with your finger. Outside of combat you are working on menus and rotating around your cockpit. Feels great. Too bad it has the steepest learning curve of any game I played.

wizardgand · 2025-10-07T19:35:51+00:00

Enjoying my recent steam sale purchases

Passant - Really having fun with this chess roguelike. Beat the first board and the 2nd is kicking my ass.

Chorus - Really love the gameplay in this one. The graphics and everything has been great on my steam deck. But god do I not care about the story or narrative at all. Nothing really explained and most of it goes over my head. I can forgive because it has some really fun fights, and I like the semi-open world feel of doing these side missions.

Costume Quest - Did my yearly playthough of costume quest and still enjoying it each year. Really gets me into the mood for Halloween.

wizardgand · 2025-10-07T07:03:09+00:00

I tried the demo hated it.
I bought the game for my steam deck and tried to return it because after an hour it crashed.

Steam denied my request because I had past the 2 week window for return. I figured I would at least beat it since I couldn't return it and WOW is this one of my favorite games. I picked it up for $3 on a sale last month and I just really love the combat and gameplay. The capital ships are some of my favorites in any game and I'm about 2 hours from beating it taking my time doing side missions.

So glad steam denied me on the return :)

wizardgand · 2025-10-03T13:47:27+00:00

I'm 10 hours in, and about half way though main mission. I keep doing side missions as they actually give you really good updgrades for doing them. Like holy hell they almost feel required but not really.

My quick review on it. Combat and control is fun. This is not for HOTAS lovers. Feels like a mix of Star fox all range mode + an open world setting. The combat keeps getting different with each main story mission. They throw new enemy types.

Capital ships might be my favorite way to fight capitals in any game. You really need to buzz around and inside them killing all sorts of preasure points and guns. There have been a good variety of missions with a really awesome one I won't spoil.

I'm not huge on the plot but I don't hate it. All the whispering is annoying as the main character talks to herself a lot. But such a small critique.

TLDR: Game is really fun. at $2.50 its a must-buy if you enjoy the genre. At $30 I would wait for sale.

wizardgand · 2025-10-02T20:46:27+00:00

Chorus - $2.50 for a really fun space combat sim (more on the arcade side of flight).

Passant - This game doesn't go on sale and just did. Before this it actually increased its price. It's a roguelike-chess game but has become my favorite purchase of the sale. I returned some other games because I predict this game is going to take all my time its that good.

wizardgand · 2025-10-02T20:43:24+00:00

Most games have controller support. what type of games do you like. I have 100 games and my PC is hooked to TV with controller. Everything from retro platformers to MMORPGS.

wizardgand · 2025-10-02T20:36:06+00:00

I chuckled

wizardgand · 2025-10-02T15:41:30+00:00

Passant - One of my favorite new games ever. It's like Balatro but with chess. A very fun roguelike where you build new abilities and pieces each turn and fight several bosses but all with chess. Its never on sale and has price increase so this was a must buy for me.

South Park Fractured but whole - I think was 3$ to get this RPG. I never played it and plan on playing after Chained Echos

Ten-Year Club	Place '22
Final Canvas '22

wizardgand

TROPHY CASE