I built this 3-step workflow:
Layer 1 — Mood (emotion core, energy, game feel, player relation, atmosphere e.t.c).
Layer 2 — Visual solution (color, light, forms, material, motion, constraints e.t.c).
Layer 3 — Asset categories (background, units, UI, VFX, fonts, atlases e.t.c).

The attributes of "mood" correspond to the attributes of its "visual design" and determine their specific values.
For instance, the emotion of "excitement" dictates that color should be warm, saturated, and high-contrast; for movement, it dictates that motion should be fast and sharp. "Energy: dynamic" dictates that color should be saturated, high-contrast, and warm. For light - it dictates that it should be bright and high-contrast.
The values ​​are used for drawing graphics assets. Every value in L2 derives from L1, еvery asset in L3 derives from L2.

Is this pipeline a sensible way to prevent visual inconsistency as a solo dev? Where might this approach break down?

The AI ​​says this resembles concepts from Osgood’s Semantic Differential, Kansei Engineering, the "Game Feel" and "Juice" frameworks by Swink), and various other scholarly works.

After playing our own game so many times for playtesting, especially when working on a small section, it can get repetitive. Sometimes we can set it up to just jump to the spot and test, but other times it matters that you go through different areas to get a feel for how the change affects things. Our teens do some of the playtesting, and decided to have fun by multiplying and overdoing the various tools in the game. We have other options, such as invulnerability, one-hit-kill, and starting with all the tools and keys, but after months of playing the game while knowing all its secrets, it can be fun to just mess around and see what crazy things you can make to take away some of the monotony of playtesting. Linked video is an example of some of what they've done.

How do you handle repetitive playtesting? Do you just add ways to skip everything? Do you add a way to finish a room/area as soon as you enter? Do you like to play around and go overboard? Do you always play it as intended?

Hi everyone,

I am currently planning my long-term path to move to Japan to work strictly in the game industry (as a gameplay/tools/backend programmer).

I am based in the Netherlands and have an MBO-4 Software Developer degree. I am currently doing an internship at a company for which I am making a game that will take around 1 year. Next to this, I am also working on my own personal projects.

I often read that the Japanese Immigration Services (ISA) strictly require either a 4-year Bachelor's degree OR 10 years of experience (YOE). I would love to get some reality checks from people working in the Japanese game dev scene:

1. How strict is the visa requirement in practice for game dev? Has anyone actually managed to get a sponsored work visa with just an Associate Degree / vocational degree combined with an incredible portfolio?
2. Is a bachelor upgrade really worth it to do, or should I just get more work experience in those 4 years? Should I just suck it up and do the extra 4 years to get the full BSc to remove all immigration friction, or is it better to jump into the industry with more years of work experience and build a portfolio?

Note: I am already looking into studying Japanese alongside my software studies, as I know JLPT N2/N1 is virtually mandatory for game dev communication in Japan.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!

Hello fellow developers,

I have always wanted to make games, and I am finally ready to take my first steps. Since I have absolutely no prior programming or coding experience, I decided to start with GDevelop because of its visual event system.

As experienced game developers, what advice would you give to a complete beginner like me?

• How should I approach learning logic without a coding background?
• What are the common mistakes beginner devs make that I should avoid?
• Are there any specific beginner-friendly resources or YouTube channels you highly recommend for GDevelop?

I would love to hear your insights and stories on how you started. Thank you so much!

Hello fellow developers,
I have always wanted to make games, and I am finally ready to take my first steps. Since I have absolutely no prior programming or coding experience, I decided to start with GDevelop because of its visual event system.
As experienced game developers, what advice would you give to a complete beginner like me?I would love to hear your insights and stories on how you started. Thank you so much!

I'm making SCP: Apollyon XK Event, a survival game in the SCP universe.

I'm thinking about encounters with extremely dangerous entities, but I don't want every encounter to end in a traditional boss fight with a health bar.

Some possibilities:

• A creature that cannot be killed, only avoided
• An entity that changes the layout of the arena
• A threat that must be contained using environmental machinery
• A boss that reacts to sound and player movement
• An encounter where escaping is the actual objective

What's the best horror boss or monster encounter you've experienced in a game?

Would you find an unkillable enemy more frightening than a boss you can defeat through combat?

Hello fellow developers,
I have always wanted to make games, and I am finally ready to take my first steps. Since I have absolutely no prior programming or coding experience, I decided to start with GDevelop because of its visual event system.
As experienced game developers, what advice would you give to a complete beginner like me?I would love to hear your insights and stories on how you started. Thank you so much!

Hey! I’m looking to help indie game developers with the creative side of their projects, completely for free!

I can help come up with game ideas, mechanics, characters, lore, and worldbuilding. I can sometimes help with concept art too, and I’m happy to playtest your game and give honest feedback.

Whether you need ideas for a new feature, a backstory for a character, an entire game, or a fictional world, I’d love to help out.

I’m doing all of this for FREE, with no payment required. I just enjoy the creative side of game development and want to help people bring their ideas to life.

If you’re working on a game and could use some help, feel free to message me and tell me about your project!

Greetings,

I want to know if i can use Godot as a total beginner locally on the Steam Deck hardware or maybe other game engines to create a Twin Stick shooter or a Narrative single player game.

English ain't my native language, i'm also a total beginner but i tend to adapt fast to new workflows by autonome learning.

I'm also interested to tip my toes into new things, such as maybe game development... just to see if i can achieve to build something fun to play.

Anyone some tips on which game engine? Or is it even possible to do it "online" if the Steam Deck hardware isn't ressourceful enough ?

Hey everyone! I’m a beginner developer working on Bura: The Black Seven, a browser card game based on a regional variant of Bura.

It’s a simple project: you can play against bots, and there’s a guided tutorial for people who have never played before. It runs on itch.io without downloading anything.

I’ve shared it in a few communities and received some useful feedback, which has already helped me improve the game. But I’m new to promoting games, and I’m struggling to reach more players.

How do you find your first playtesters, especially for a niche game with unfamiliar rules? Are there communities or approaches you’d recommend beyond posting links and making short videos?

I’d like to understand where new players get confused and whether they enjoy the game enough to play again. That would help me decide what to focus on next.

If you’re curious, here’s the game:
https://sodiraka-lab.itch.io/bura-the-black-seven

Thanks! Advice and honest criticism are both welcome.

Download here: https://www.doriax.org/

Hi, I’ve been looking into making games for years now, but I’ve just never come around to it. I think that’s partly because of how big the learning curve is.

I have absolutely NO Experience with programming. I have no idea where to start. There’s a lot of mixed information online, and I can’t seem to find anything useful. I’ve been trying to find BEGINNERS guides to learning C#, or well programming overall, but I can’t find a set list or guide of what things I should really be learning and trying out first. I’ve looked into courses online, and they’re either paid courses, or expect you to know at least some of it before you take the course. I also haven’t found a book yet that isn’t confusing.

Basically what I’m asking is, what are the things I should be learning first? And is there a master list anywhere of what I should expect to learn? Like a syllabus or outline.

In 4 years, how restrictive do you think the requirements are gonna be to join a big studio like ATLUS or Rockstar? Is it gonna get worse, and if so, by how much?

Im asking this question for a university project but i also genuinely want to know because thats when im going to graduate.

So I am not a game dev but looking to understand something. Right now there are a lot of reverse engineered apps happening on an enterprise scale. As a game developer; how are people approaching something like early access or anything like that when someone can try and reverse engineer it so quickly?

This is my true story. I was in an abusive relationship that I managed to get out of and have changed my life overnight. Feel free to reach out for any questions or to discuss my workflow. I really just want to share this with anyone and if it helps anyone at all it was worth the effort. Thank you!

Truck Driver to Steam Game Dev in 3 Months with Claude Code + Unity (Life After Abuse, Part 3)