We're a team of two making Hostile Architect. It looks like a typical side-scroller, except you're the one designing the level, using stuff like ceiling spikes and lava pits and conveyor belts. You choose your traps, arrange everything, and then sit back and watch while a horde of heroes is unleashed to try to survive the level you built.

We've been working on this for about 10 months, not exactly secretly, but we're finally showing it off now, which is a little scary. Yesterday our trailer blew up on Instagram. But this is Reddit and you people are harsher critics. Does this look like something you'd play? Or should we throw ourselves into the lava pit?

Here's our Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4768160/Hostile_Architect/

Join the discord: https://discord.picto-game.com

Someone reviewed my demo today having played the game for 67 hours. The only issue is my demo is basically the full game.

I came to the conclusion at some point this year that I don't want to limit the demo to 40 minutes of gameplay because it will be harder to generate hype. So I kept pushing out all the ideas I had for content to the demo. Now people are playing for 100s of hours and I'm getting increasingly worried they will be disappointed with the full game.

Edit:

Thanks for opinions! It feels like going into early access might be the best way to bridge the demo to a full release.

Edit 2:

For extra context, GUNBOAT-8 is a roguelike. It's not a story game so there is hopefully going to be some replay value for this player. But I still don't have much additional content (items or characters) ready for a full release which is why I said early access might be the path forward to build with the game's community.

EDIT: did not expect this post to blow up like this haha, thank you everyone!! if you want to follow the game more closely, I post more development stuff on X: https://x.com/ray_ervian

been spending some time on the water shader lately for my small sailing game, Beneath the Dying Sun. reflections ended up doing way more for the atmosphere than I expected, especially around lit areas at night

I actually tried planar reflections first and they looked beautiful, but absolutely destroyed the framerate lol. they also got pretty unstable once the weather system started throwing high tides and bigger waves around, so I ended up going back to the tried and true SSR instead

haven't optimized it much yet, but so far the performance hit is pretty negligible. the downside is the usual SSR stuff though, reflections around the edges of the screen can look pretty weird sometimes

still plenty I want to tweak, but pretty happy with where it's going!

If you're curious about the game, there's more about it here:
https://ray-ark.itch.io/beneath-the-dying-sun

EDIT 2: I've removed the voting links since Beneath the Dying Sun unfortunately didn't make it through to the final stage of Rising Tide 4. honestly pretty bummed about the result, especially after seeing how much support the game got here, but thank you so much to everyone who took the time to vote for it ❤️

I'm working on a crash scene for my game and I've received some really helpful feedback. The goal was to make it feel more natural and readable:

• Less sharp hole

• More visible impact trail

• More debris along the path

I'm continuing to iterate, so feel free to share your thoughts!

Next step: introducing the first creature you meet after the crash—its design is still being developed.

Edit: Thank you all for your feedback, it's been extremely helpful!

I'm reading everything and using it to improve the scene — I really appreciate it 🙏

My friends and I have been making a first person card game where every level is made out of thousands of layers of stacked illustrations.

Thought I'd share this quick video where we show of a comparison of how a level looks in engine, vs how it looks in gameplay.

This certainly isn't the quickest or easiest way to be making a game, but the process is incredibly fun, and end result is so rewarding!

Edit: This post has blown up way beyond anything I was expecting, so adding the game's details:
This is Shroom and Gloom, a first-person roguelike double deckbuilder.
It recently launched into Early Access:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3271280/Shroom_and_Gloom/

pog

Thanks for all the love the other day. I've been encouraged to post more regularly about smaller updates with the games development. Bumper Bout is a solo project, pinball versus where players share a playfield. I'm launching it later this year so im pretty nervous but in a good way I think. The idea is fairly unique so I have to think outside the box a bit to accommodate that, but it's a fun ride. Plenty more to go between now and then - it's gonna be a busy year. Thanks again for your time and comments, they meant a lot.

Edit: Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3938260/Bumper_Bout/ (any wishlists appreciated)

The monster that took me the longest to create... mainly because the relationship took over 20 years to incubate! 🤣

Since my game features a late-game marriage system, I needed a lore-accurate guardian for the wedding ring.
As an indie dev looking for inspiration around the house, what could be better than turning my own wife into the boss?

Here is my workflow:

1. The Stealth Mission: She stayed up late baking for the kids, which meant she was in a very deep sleep by morning. Perfect lighting, perfect timing.
I sneaked in and took reference photos from multiple angles.
Crucial rule: Do NOT wake her up. Deep sleep gives that raw, natural look. If she were awake, her natural instinct would be to pose and try to look pretty. We need monster material here!

2. Photo-bashing: I cut out the faces and arranged the core form. because I planned to use morning sunlight. It will be easier when I combine the images.

3. Grayscale & Textures: Reduce the saturation of all colors to a grayscale, then layer with colors to adjust lighting and shadows, and overlay with raw textures. (I pixelated the raw meat references in the image so I don't gross you guys out too much).

4. The Gore: A horror monster needs blood. Added some red in the crevices, painted in some veins, tendons, and fleshy connections.

Ta-da! After some final color grading, she is ready to be unleashed. You can now queue up to spam your skills on her.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3594550/Billy_the_Hero/

It's actually chasing you while you scroll through the page.

it’s the first boss in the game, so i want him to be pretty memorable.

steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3218760/Fornani/

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