Hi and hello all and fellow southpaws,

With the increasing option to pick from genders between characters (unless heavily tied into story and designed that way) it feels like the next option would be to have left-handedness become an option.
As a lefty I always felt a little "left" out (pardon the pun) in games as soon as I saw a gun or weapon being held in the "wrong" hand.

I know CS2 makes the option available if you dig a little, which is a great start.

So my question is, do you know of any other games that deserve a call out for already having this? Games that might need this (character fantasy) or just a shout out in support of the idea, feel free to discuss below.

Cheers!

I'm currently building a basic MUD as a (very productive so far) learning exercise.

Obviously MUDs have the same mix of appeals as other RPGs do: exploration, progression, combat, PvP, online community etc.. But what in your experience is the key mechanic the game needs to nail to keep you coming back? When a MUD clicks with you, what itch is it scratching?

All examples welcome, even those that are not MUDs but may be applicable to MUDs.

With all the talk of layoffs and studio closures, I wanted to know what the opinions and general experience is like as an indie game dev. How viable is it, how successful can you really be with that career and what challenges can crop up?

I started making my own game a while back and got extremely discouraged by the layoffs and technical hurdles I was running into, to the point where someone told me maybe I wasn't cut out for it on discord. This really killed my drive, and it would be awesome to hear about some success stories or even some struggles that you may have overcome.

Hey, so I'd really just like to get an idea that's been in my head for god knows how long out into a program, even if it's just a demo of what I've imagined. But I never had enough knowledge in a particular engine to just get the idea out. My main programming knowledge is from Java classes, and I've dabbled in enough in HTML/CSS, Javascript, SQL, Powershell, etc. enough to get through classes, projects, small scripts, deployments, etc, so I have programming experience from a conceptual point. But I've never really worked with GUI elements in a serious manner outside the Cocoa IDE handling all the heavy lifting. Any time I get the itch to tackle this I give GameMaker or Godot or something else a try via some tutorial, I never get to the end of it. I figured learning by example would help, but I forget most of the basics on how I'm supposed to set up an object or attribute... Then I try it the other way around where I try to learn it bottom-up and I get overwhelmed if I lose my way in the middle of a process... It's extremely frustrating, I swear I've been through this about three times in the last seven years or so.

I'm curious, has anyone had this much trouble with this? What did you do, what was your in?

I was working on a VR experience showing wealth inequality in true scale. By a habby coincidence I discovered a game jam with the rather blatant title Fuck Capitalism Gamejam 2024 which just happened to end in a time span where I'd might be able to finish off my game. So, great, now I have a deadline! I began to plan what I could reasonably expect to finish within that time frame.

But today, I read the game jam page a little more closely. Turns out the deadline is for voting on the submitted games. The game jam had run out a long time ago. So, no deadline. And of course, I became aware that submitting it to said gamejam wouldn't have mattered much anyway.

Guess I just have to keep working on the stupid project. Everything just feels so pointless, because, well, I guess it is. And trying to build up some pretend excitement gets a bit stale.

Anyhow, how are you folks dealing with the good ol' what's-the-point-of-it-all feelies? Is life just a yo-yo movement between hopelessness and semi-engaged pretence of meaning, or are there other roads to travel?

Sorry if this is not the right place to post this.

I'm interested in a book about game development for the creation of world's, topics I'd like to see covered are:

• L-System
• Scene generator
• Fractal landscape

Is anyone aware of any material that may help me learn about the implementation of said topics. They don't need to be fully automated like a scene generator. Understanding immersion would also be important.

And perhaps while I'm at it if you have any favourite game development books I'd love to know them.

So a recurring thing that's come up when discussing ideas for games with friends, or just thinking about ideas: what are the most absolutely essential graphical assets for building a world?

Obviously, the answer will vary heavily for each game, but for some types of settings, the basic "starter set" is pretty universal. For example, nearly all house interiors will have a bed, at least one type of table (almost always dining), and at least one type of chair that goes with the table. After those crucial basics usually they'll also have some sort of shelf, a dresser, and kitchen counters and a fridge. Outdoor tilesets in 2D pixel art games typically need grass or other ground tiles, path tiles, water tiles, at least one type of tree, and at least one type of rock. From that point, you can expand to include things like fences, buildings, benches, lampposts, etc.

Trying to figure out a full list of assets needed for any game can be daunting, so I figure I'd ask for input on what you consider the most vital for various types of settings. Starting with the absolute barest necessities for building a basic map (so you can at least plot basic layouts and try to get a sense of the art direction), followed by the most commonly featured items. Could be for individual rooms, specific buildings (like gas stations or restaurants), or specific types of areas (jungles, farms, beaches, etc.).

Side-note: yes, I know you can use placeholder assets. But it's also helpful to just have a general list of what basic items are needed for reference.

(I already wrote this once, but my phone didn't like it and randomly deleted the whole thing... ◕∩◕ )

I've been wanting to develop some games for a while now, and I have an overarching theme idea in mind. I couldn't decide on top down pixelated game or 3D style, because it's more of a visual story kind of game, where you explore, build a base (or several), meet and talk to NPCs, learn the story, etc. I want a lot of detail but I only have (minimal) experience with pixelated games. So naturally, 3D sounds better for a higher detailed, and maybe stylized environment.

I don't know much at all about code ( for example, I had to look up how to format this post). I don't even know what languages there are other than Java. I make resourcepacks for Minecraft, but that's minimal coding for the .mcmeta file. I do also make fabric mods for it, but I use MCreator for those, which I'm sure is like training wheels for coding.

I have the skills for graphics for both characters/environments and GUI/HUD elements. I have an idea for my story, and a few ideas for characters. What I know I don't have is experience in balancing things like economies, rpg skills, fighting, and weapons/armor and their upgrades. But I'm not really planning on implementing those, at least not right now. (The economy would be first if I did)

I recently saw a video on youtube showcasing Unity Engine's nanite environments, and basically, I want in on that. They're gorgeous.

The Questions

So my 8 questions are, on a scale of one to ten (ten being basically impossible for one single person to do), how difficult would it be to make these elements in a singleplayer, 3D game for someone without experience (like me):

1. Sky, ground, objects (like trees, flowers, rocks, etc) and other environment visuals' 3D models for exploration? I need to be able to walk on it, and maybe hit things like trees for lumber.

2. Base building and gathering the materials to build? This comes with the inventory issue as well (looking at you, Minecraft), which I'm still trying to figure out how I want to do this.

3. Crafting said gathered materials for building elements and items to gift to NPCs? This will need GUI and workbench, most likely.

4. Collectibles? Think koroks from BoTW or the museum artifacts in Stardew Valley. I'd like for the player to be able to display these only in/on a shelf/table/glass case inside their base(s).

5. NPCs with many hours worth of randomized dialogue interaction, gifts to and from NPCs, as well as a few friendship levels and unlockable interactions/gifts?

6. What would the time frame look like for me to learn Unity's Engine for these elements, or is there a better engine I should be aware of?

7. What materials might you guess that I'd need to spend money on to make this game? I already have: a Mac, the Adobe Suite, a drawing tablet, all the time in the world, and ideas. Would I need a license for anything?

8. What have I overlooked? 3D modeling (and not just blocky models in blockbench) is a skill I realized I'd need to learn just as I was writing this post.

The reason I'm asking so many questions is because I can't tell if trying this will be worth my time or not, and if I could afford to hire someone for parts of it, if need be. I have ADHD, so I'm wondering if this is just the "new shiny thing" that has caught my eye (probably is). I don't want to dive into a major learning session and project development if it ultimately won't go anywhere because it's too hard for my smooth brain.

Then again, I see some games (what I would consider low quality) that I'm like, "man, I could've done that, that looks so simple and easy!" So basically I have no idea whether I'm near the peak of Mt Stupid on the Dunning-Kreuger graph, or if I'm past it and somewhere in the valley.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Also, feel free to talk to me like I'm a dumb 5 year old.