Orchid of Redemption

And as a game designer Lemmings is especially humbling because, for any given thing I'm making I can say "is my game as unique as this? Does it do something no other game does?". So far none of my games have passed that test, but I'm certain asking the question makes me a better designer

YouTube video by onaretrotip The Making of Lemmings (1991) | 35th Anniversary Documentary

As a game designer Lemmings is one of the small handful of games I think about often and marvel at how completely unique it is.
Docos like this are fascinating because there's no big story, magical inciting incident or confluence of forces, it just kind of happened

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulx0...

The final piece of key art for Pelican Empyrean!

We’ll be updating the Steam page with this soon, and using a parallax version of the image for the game’s title screen

Check out the demo on Steam

#pelicanEmpyrean #indiegame #gamedev

The final piece of key art for Pelican Empyrean!

We’ll be updating the Steam page with this soon, and using a parallax version of the image for the game’s title screen

Check out the demo on Steam

#pelicanEmpyrean #indiegame #gamedev

A couple of paint-overs of Dream of the Star Haven to hone in on the visual style and level-shapes

#dreamOfTheStarHaven #indiegame #gamedev

We showed Pelican Empyrean at the SA Games Exhibition over the last two days.
The response was awesome! So many players deeply entranced by the gameplay.

#pelicanEmyprean #indiegame

YouTube video by Lamplight Forest Game Dev Journeys: Improvising a Game Design from Scratch

Join me for the latest episode of Game Dev Journeys as I verbally improvise a game design from scratch!

I imagine a concept for a new game and talk through the gameplay structures it could have and thematic directions it could take.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcQf...

#indiegames #gamedev #podcast

Also looking forward to seeing how the public responds to Pelican Empyrean when it's released - it's a roguelike with a focus on accumulating artefacts, but with an intentionally tightly-curated magic system, so it's almost as puzzle-ish as it is strategic.

these still hold up so nicely. Such a distinct look!

On the dev side, Pelican Empyrean is now fully playable from start to finish!

Lots of polish / balance still to go, but we have a great QA team helping out, so we can get that difficulty curve just right!

#pelicanEmpyrean #indiegame #gamedev

Thanks! 🍃✨

So happy to finally have some help with Dream of the Star Haven.

Level designer Jack Giles is helping whip the 2.5D platforming minigames into shape!

#indiegame #gamedev #dreamOfTheStarHaven

Shopping for magical artefacts in Pelican Empyrean

#screenshotsaturday #indiegame

Pelican Empyrean on Steam Food is love! In this fantastical roguelike card game share the magic of abundance by cooking delicious meals for all who come to Pelican's kitchen.

Just updated the Pelican Empyrean demo with lots of little improvements, tweaks and fixes across the board. If you haven't checked it out yet now's a good time!

🔮 magical 🥘 cooking 🃏 card game

store.steampowered.com/app/3438870/...

#pelicanEmpyrean #indiegame #gamedev

The very talented up-and-coming artist Bella Field is creating some key art for our roguelike cooking card game #pelicanEmpyrean

Check out this beautiful WIP

Wishlist Pelican Empyrean on Steam!

#indiegame #gamedev

Thank you!

YouTube video by Lamplight Forest Game Dev Journeys: Improvising a Game Design from Scratch

Join me for the latest episode of Game Dev Journeys as I verbally improvise a game design from scratch!

I imagine a concept for a new game and talk through the gameplay structures it could have and thematic directions it could take.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcQf...

#indiegames #gamedev #podcast

Finished Angeline Era on hard today. Very amazing and eclectic experience!

Especially recommended if you’re a game dev cos it’s chock full of weird and wonderful enemy and boss behaviors!

Save 70% on Joon Shining on Steam Master the elements. Explore mystical worlds. Harness ancient powers. Joon Shining is an enchanted golf-like platformer with a fantasy twist. Use magic to bend physics, influence environments, and mak...

Joon Shining, the magical golf-like platformer is 70% off now on Steam!

store.steampowered.com/app/1552600/...

#joonshining #indiegame #steamsale

Save 15% on After Light Fades on Steam Solve, evolve, and let go. In this mystical, magical sokoban puzzle journey, each artefact you master must eventually be left behind. Explore seven emotionally resonant fantasy worlds, casting away ar...

After Light Fades is 15% off right now on Steam

🔮 a magical
🧩 puzzle / sokoban
🌈 adventure

to reconnect with life and love after loss

store.steampowered.com/app/1717940/...

#afterlightfades #indiegame #steamsale

Save 15% on After Light Fades on Steam Solve, evolve, and let go. In this mystical, magical sokoban puzzle journey, each artefact you master must eventually be left behind. Explore seven emotionally resonant fantasy worlds, casting away ar...

After Light Fades is 15% off right now on Steam

🔮 a magical
🧩 puzzle / sokoban
🌈 adventure

to reconnect with life and love after loss

store.steampowered.com/app/1717940/...

#afterlightfades #indiegame #steamsale

Pelican Empyrean on Steam Food is love! In this fantastical roguelike card game share the magic of abundance by cooking delicious meals for all who come to Pelican's kitchen.

After a busy start to the year we're finally back on track to finish up Pelican Empyrean over the next few months. If you haven't seen it yet check out the free demo on Steam

🃏 roguelike cards
🥘 cooking!
🔮 magic!!

store.steampowered.com/app/3438870/...

#pelicanempyrean #indiegame

Hi! Yes happy to share more info. Please DM me and I can give you additional details there. In a nutshell it’s freelance work-for-hire, negotiable hourly rate, on an early access indie

We’re looking for a freelance work for hire environment artist / level designer for Dream of the Star Haven. Mostly kitbashing in Unity, so 3D modeling skills not essential.
DM with a link to your portfolio if you’re interested!

#gamejobs

This one also stood out to me: they said that players are driven more by expectation than by observation - and thus helping to set your players expectations can have a huge impact on their engagement!

Episode 97 - Why We Like Really Hard (and Really Easy) Games Podcast Episode · Psychology of Video Games Podcast · 01/09/2024 · 46m

Check out this great episode of Psychology of Videogames where they talk about the fascinating "predictive processing" model of cognition and why it means that "uncertainty reduction" is a huge motivating factor for play

podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/p...

#gamedev

This is the level I'm most proud of in Star Haven so far.

It's a compact little puzzle box with Escher vibes, where you keep revisiting the same area but from different approaches and with different gravity orientations.

#dreamofthestarhaven #indiegame #gamedev

A first pass at developing Star Haven's boss fights (and the first time I've ever made a boss fight for any of my games).

Just using a placeholder model and environments for now, but the battle itself is so acrobatic and playful!

#dreamofthestarhaven #indiegame #gamedev

Because each level will end with a boss fight, they'll all use the same code, which has modular behaviours that can be recombined in different ways for each boss, where the resulting aggregate of behaviours will become a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

A first pass at developing Star Haven's boss fights (and the first time I've ever made a boss fight for any of my games).

Just using a placeholder model and environments for now, but the battle itself is so acrobatic and playful!

#dreamofthestarhaven #indiegame #gamedev