russ
I build tools in clojure and games in godot!
Interesting idea! I appreciate the org/plaintext driven approach, not that different from wm config bindings.
I like the idea of behavior (in this case keybindings) updating from documentation/data changes without needing to edit the code, tho there are tradeoffs and added complexities to mitigate
Not a game, but a tiny godot addon I’m working on, a dev-focused pretty printer for making your logs more readable.
I’m liking this as a logo so far!
- Repo: https://github.com/russmatney/log
- Devlog covering it: https://youtu.be/5yuEuA6S-Ws
Hopefully coming to the godot asset store this month!
Screenshot is via Pixaki on an ipad: https://pixaki.com/
There are a few collections around like: https://github.com/adi1090x/rofi
These things tend to imply dependencies for how they’re implemented plus whatever they are integrating. The UX is definitely the right one tho! Rofi is great for working on custom dev tools - you can pass lines in as stdin, it sends back the selected item on stdout, then you exec the matching output command.
I started a project called ‘ralphie’ to do this with babashka a couple years ago, but later i absorbed that into a monorepo called clawe - you can see the rofi namespace here: https://github.com/russmatney/clawe/blob/3987390ffe538d878045e9d886190542fb111b9e/src/ralphie/rofi.clj#L146-L156
streets of rage 2!
Another much shorter answer is, once you pay the steam fee, you can easily play your game on the Steam Deck, so it helps a ton for playtesting (both myself and putting the games in people’s hands).
And otherwise, the Dino page is up now in the hopes of starting to collect wishlists sooner than later.
[edit: sorry, this whole answer I thought the question was asking about Dot Hop, not Dino! Re: Dino, I’d started the project much earlier, but paused development on it at the beginning of this year to pursue Dot Hop first (much smaller scope). I’m moving back to Dino now that Dot Hop is released, targeting a launch before June!]
Yeah, Steam charges $100 per title - if you earn enough (some high number, maybe 1000?), they give that 100 back, but I’m not necessarily counting on that (not soon, anyway). My goal is make enough money to keep doing game dev full time - i’m hopeful to make it work across steam/itch/patreon/other stores. (Hopefully Dot Hop mobile/Switch releases later this year!). To me the dream is to make enough money to make the rent and make the next game.
But! There are definitely other less-directly-monetary reasons for the release:
- getting exposure and feedback from more people will help me improve as a game dev/designer (this might be the biggest reason, really - I don’t expect commercial success from my first game, so instead it’s about all the intrinsic value I can get out of it - experience, motivation, validation, learning all the annoying marketing/steam/etc overhead)
- having a deadline and ‘proper’ release definitely motivated me to raise the quality bar of my work (before this I was submitting scrappy games to game jams)
- regardless of the project’s monetary success, it’s now a useful portfolio piece for future game dev teams/interviews, which I might need if/when the solodev thing isn’t enough
In general I’m intending to get multiple quality games into “stores” as soon as possible (hopefully this year), and then decide what to do next - I think the experience along the way is the best thing for my growth and will inform the next move (some larger game, find/build a team to work with, start applying for studios, etc)
This template might also be useful: https://github.com/bitbrain/godot-gamejam - e.g. i read through the savegame stuff before implementing it in my own game.
I saw another template the other day… and my last/next project “dino” is available as well, though it’s pretty crazy in there right now: https://github.com/russmatney/dino - i hope to whip this one into shape by june 1st!
