That is different, because you can't interact with the game anymore. In game pause can let you change your settings or map for example. Menus and map are still running in the game loop, so then you need to make they get the input events but not the gameplay part.
As someone who uses JavaScript/TypeScript, I love Replicad. It is super easy to create and share parametric models from their online editor without any accounts.
I keep my models on github[0]. Disclaimer, they are pretty niche things I needed around the house.
Thank you, glad you like it! My idea was to make the player pick their cards during the shmup action, but then to have a breather when they reach the boss fight (contrary to the usual bullet hell boss fights).
Thank you, I did all of the sprites myself. This was the first time I tried doing pixel art and I love it. It is a kind of meditation for me.
I think you should give it a go, making games is a lot of fun. Try making a prototype with circles and rectangles. Later on, you can hire someone to do the graphics or you can buy an asset pack. In my case, I can't make music - the two tracks in the game are free PICO 8 tracks and my best friend is working on the new ones.
I'm still obsessed with making my game, which you can try it at the link above (it is desktop only). This is my first "real" game, and it has been incredibly fun and rewarding. I've been working on it in the evenings for about 4 or 5 months.
It is a very ambitious mix of genres - shoot-em-up and deck-building. A lot of people said that those are genres that shouldn't be combined, but I think it turned out to be a fun little game. Folks who are not fans of one (or either) of the genres are actually playing it. I built a global high-score leaderboard, and there are people (including a few of my friends) competing on it. Whoever knocks my friend "BER" from first place will earn a beer from me.
This is purely a fun project, although I'm now seriously considering releasing it on steam when I finish everything I planned for it. It is made in Kaplay, a small JavaScript gamedev library, which is a big part of what makes it fun. If you try it out, please leave a comment, I would love more feedback!
Maybe not that niche for this group, but I love pen plotting. I use code to create drawings and then pen plot them on paper [0]. The ability to bring something digital into the physical world is really fulfilling for me and makes the process much more tangible. I have an Axidraw A3, and it might be the best purchase I ever made.
In the last few months I haven't done much as I'm currently obsessed by gamedev. But now when you reminded me, I want to plot a few pieces I started last year and never finished.
Hehe I know what you mean. I mentioned I have parts for v2 (stronger controller, rotary encoder with a big brass knob and completely offline - hardware real time clock), but we’ll see if it will ever happen.
LED matrices are so fun to play with. The low resolution and chunky pixels give them the aesthetics I really enjoy.
I’ve built a 64x64 pixel art frame [0]. With the diffuser in front of the matrix, it looks like animations are floating in the air. I got parts for v2, but I’m yet to find time to build it.
I really like how electronics today are very accessible to start playing with. Basic stuff is mostly plug-and-play, and essentially it becomes a software project.
Of course, I added mine as well, which got better feedback on “What are you working on” thread than I expected.
Since then I released two updates but Show HN thread didn’t catch on. I’m still actively working on it. Atm I’m tweaking level difficulty to make it easier to start and then ramp up the difficulty.
I have a todo list defined, and I’m having so much fun going through it.
I completely understand what you mean, I often feel like that as well. Like every other skill, it takes time and it feels frightening when you see other people's work. Honestly I don't think I'm that good at pixel art, this is my first pixel art project. To be fair, spaceships and technology are pretty straight forward to draw.
It is a combination of a shoot-em-up and deck building. You fly and shoot until you get to the boss, when you get your deck out to fight them.
That genre combination is definitely too ambitious, but I think it is fun to play and I’m enjoying making it.
I have a bunch of ideas how to combine the two parts better. But over the years, I’ve learned to control scope creep and actually ship pet projects.
Right now I’m in a middle of changing how enemy waves are spawned. After that I want to make a short tutorial and add two more bosses as well as more enemies.
If you end up playing it, please share your feedback I’ll be glad to hear it.
The game is made using Kaplay, a game dec library which brings me joy to use. I can best describe it as my friend described Pico-8: “easy things are easy”. But compared to Pico-8, Kaplay doesn’t have virtual console limitations and comes with a big library of components. Try it out, the community is small, but the library itself is really fun and easy to use.
EDIT: For context, this is about two weeks of work, in the evenings when my kid is asleep.