The hottest Game Development Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Is the latest game subscription 'moral panic' justified?

The GameDiscoverCo newsletter • 373 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Gaming Subscriptions Market Trends Game Development Digital Platforms
  1. There is debate about whether the 'moral panic' around the latest game subscription services is justified.
  2. Subscription services like Game Pass are seen as gatekeeping and may impact the creation of creative first-party games.
  3. The market for games is evolving, with a mix of direct-to-market games, subscription services, and the importance of gamers owning their catalogs.

What Palworld's success tells us about 2024's game biz

The GameDiscoverCo newsletter • 314 implied HN points • 24 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Gaming Market Analysis Game Development eBooks Industry Trends
  1. Palworld's success shows that players enjoy familiar game mechanics with a touch of novelty on top.
  2. Palworld's unique gameplay loop and intricate mechanics contribute to its success in the gaming market.
  3. Understanding the creator's vision and the development process of a game like Palworld can provide insights into its success.

Which Steam games 'won' revenue again in 2023?

The GameDiscoverCo newsletter • 255 implied HN points • 29 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Gaming Game Development App Store Virtual reality
  1. Steam ranked top games by gross revenue in 2023 based on 'Platinum', 'Gold', 'Silver', and 'Bronze' tiers
  2. Around 35% of the top revenue games in 2023 were new releases; games generally needed at least $20 million gross to make the rankings
  3. Deep Rock Galactic saw increased sales in 2023, success with cosmetic DLC, and plans for spinoff games
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PC game discovery in China: how does it work?

The GameDiscoverCo newsletter • 196 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Gaming Social media Market Trends Game Development Influencer Marketing
  1. In China, PC games are discovered through popular themes and genres like prison break planning and Wuxia-style RPGs.
  2. Key Chinese services for game discovery include platforms like Bilibili and Douyin, similar to YouTube and TikTok.
  3. Game developers can boost player engagement by giving away in-game cosmetics through personalized codes.

GM Shaders: WebGPU

GM Shaders Mini Tuts • 58 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Graphics Programming Web Coding Game Development
  1. WebGPU is the new standard for accelerated graphics and compute, set to replace WebGL. It offers more features, deeper low-level access, and enhanced security, making it exciting for developers.
  2. WebGPU provides cross-platform support, allowing for better control over GPU resources, and introduces compute shaders for handling diverse data types efficiently.
  3. WGSL, the shading language of WebGPU, is stricter than GLSL with similarities to Rust or Swift. It offers optimizations and consistent results across different hardware configurations.

Who's top of Steam Next Fest for October 2023?

The GameDiscoverCo newsletter • 255 implied HN points • 16 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Games Indie games Game Development Acquisitions
  1. The top games at Steam Next Fest for October 2023 were a diverse mix of genres and styles, with a focus on deep building and crafting mechanics.
  2. There is a discussion about the existence of an 'indie games bubble,' highlighting challenges in funding new games and market saturation.
  3. Game discovery news includes updates on Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Sony testing PC trophies for PSN, and Epic Games Store's new features.

GM Shaders Guest: GI

GM Shaders Mini Tuts • 137 implied HN points • 08 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Game Development Shaders
  1. Global Illumination in 2D can be achieved using Radiosity based GI for real-time per-pixel lighting in video games.
  2. Raymarching is a technique that accelerates scene rendering by approximating the distance to the nearest surface, often using Image-Based Distance Fields.
  3. Using Blue Noise and implementing implicit ray bouncing can enhance the quality of Global Illumination in games by providing uniform noise and consistent lighting across frames.

Why do some great PC/console games fail to 'go big'?

The GameDiscoverCo newsletter • 294 implied HN points • 30 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Gaming Data Analysis Tech news Game Development Digital Platforms
  1. Some great PC/console games may struggle to become popular despite positive ratings and marketing efforts.
  2. The genre of a game, such as 'Metroidvania', can impact its success due to market saturation and competition from existing popular titles.
  3. Publishers should focus on understanding player behavior, adapting marketing strategies, and fostering organic excitement to improve game reach and success.

Lets compile Linux DOOM

Deus In Machina • 36 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Game Development Software Development Open Source Programming Languages Operating Systems
  1. Compiling the Linux DOOM source code requires setting up the source code from the id-software repository and navigating through different build methods like Make and CMake.
  2. Encountering and solving errors in the compilation process involves making adjustments to data types, structure pointers, and handling variables like errno to ensure successful building of the DOOM executable.
  3. To address color depth issues and display errors while running the DOOM game on modern systems, utilizing tools like Xephyr, setting specific environmental variables, and modifying code sections related to color maps and display resolutions becomes critical.

one year in

button mash • 176 implied HN points • 12 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Game Development Coding Tutorials Community support
  1. Starting to learn something new can be challenging but rewarding.
  2. Choosing the right tools, like game engines and coding approaches, is important for beginners in game development.
  3. Seeking out tutorials, teachers, and communities can help in the learning process and provide valuable support.

First Person Shooter Raycaster Game Demo w/DragonRuby

Brian Knapp’s Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Game Development Demo YouTube
  1. The project involved creating a 3D raycaster game demo in DragonRuby, resembling the style of Wolfenstein 3D.
  2. There were challenges with the coordinate systems and math that needed adjustments, like inverting the coordinate system to match the DragonRuby platform.
  3. Despite some hurdles, the project demonstrated the potential to create a cool demo with minimal code in a game development project.

GM Shaders Guest: Gaming Engineer

GM Shaders Mini Tuts • 137 implied HN points • 18 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Gaming Graphics Game Development Shaders 3D Modeling
  1. Noah Pauw discusses creating advanced 3D graphics in GameMaker using shaders for real-time lighting and PBR materials.
  2. Game Maker is favored by Noah despite advice to switch to Unity or Unreal for photorealistic 3D games.
  3. Noah shares insights on using Blender for 3D modeling, creating lighting shaders, implementing PBR materials, and drawing 3D environments in Game Maker.

#9 - Creating an intuitive in-game menu

A Good Interface • 59 implied HN points • 16 Nov 23
🕹 Technology UI Design User Experience Game Development Gaming
  1. Understanding player expectations is crucial for designing intuitive in-game menus. Players have certain expectations for content and structure, deviating from which can lead to frustration.
  2. Menu navigation and flow are essential in creating a user-friendly experience. Design clear paths, group similar items, and prioritize important actions for quick and easy navigation.
  3. Consistency in iconography, terminology, and design elements, as well as testing with real players, feedback, and iteration, are key to crafting a well-crafted in-game menu that enhances the player experience.

Ex-Riot developers are making “Breath of the Wild with friends”

Updater, Shannon Liao's gaming newsletter • 117 implied HN points • 09 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Video Games Venture Capital Game Development Animation
  1. Former Riot developers are creating an open-world game similar to 'Breath of the Wild' with a focus on playing with friends
  2. The game studio secured $55 million in funding and aims to create a world characterized by optimism and worth fighting for
  3. The developers emphasize creating a rich player experience and aspire to build a media universe around the game, including an animated TV show

Design a Tic-Tac-Toe Game [with Code]

The ZenMode • 42 implied HN points • 15 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Design Programming System Design Game Development Web Development
  1. Designing a Tic-Tac-Toe game involves creating a user interface with components like a game board, player information, game status, and start/restart buttons.
  2. Implementing game logic requires components like game state, move validation, win condition detection, tie condition detection, and player management.
  3. For scalability, maintainability, and extensibility, consider using components like load balancer, cloud-based infrastructure, modular architecture, clean code, and automated testing.

Any-to-Any Generative AI Model, Generative AI for 3D game development, Mobile app Development from Text, Context Window of 1 Billion+ tokens, Bark on Discord and more

AI Brews • 2 HN points • 07 Jul 23
🕹 Technology AI Generative AI Game Development Mobile Apps Open Source
  1. Microsoft Research introduces a novel generative model that can create any combination of output from any input modalities.
  2. MoonlanderAI launches a generative AI platform for building immersive 3D games using text descriptions.
  3. Bark on Discord now provides text-to-audio capabilities, offering realistic multilingual speech and various audio outputs.

Scrabble Game

Judson’s Substack • 0 implied HN points • 11 Jul 23
🚌 Education Game Development Programming Learning
  1. The program allows two players to enter words and calculates their scores based on letter values.
  2. The program then determines the winner based on the scores - player 1 wins, player 2 wins, or a tie can occur.
  3. It uses ASCII values to assign points to each letter in the words and checks if the characters are letters.

Decentralization on Ronin

Ronin’s Newsletter • 0 implied HN points • 16 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Blockchain Ethereum Game Development Cryptocurrency
  1. Decentralization fortifies Ronin's security by distributing power and control across multiple participants, reducing vulnerabilities.
  2. Decentralization on Ronin aims for antifragility, ensuring the protocol can thrive even without the core team, but there are trade-offs like slower processes.
  3. Ronin is progressively enhancing decentralization with roles like validators, governors, and game developers each playing key parts in maintaining a resilient network.

Drag And Drop Godot

Michaela’s Substack • 0 implied HN points • 07 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Game Development
  1. Add the `mouse_filter` option to nodes in Godot to enable more flexible drag and drop functionality.
  2. Utilize `_can_drop_data` and `_drop_data` functions while ensuring proper setup in both source and target nodes for effective drag and drop implementation.
  3. Joining community forums like the Godot Discord can provide prompt and helpful solutions to specific coding challenges.