Matt Stark

2023’s Most Brilliant Puzzle Game Finally Comes To Switch And Xbox After years of being a PlayStation console exclusive, the most inventive game of 2023 is finally coming to Xbox and Switch.

Viewfinder is finally coming to Xbox and Switch, and you love to see it. If you've never had the opportunity to play it, now's your chance.

Sad Owl Studios deserved both BAFTAs, and meeting a couple of the team at Gamescom (including @serknowles.bsky.social) confirmed they're Good Eggs™

viewfinder is finally coming to xbox this august 12, one more platform to go!!! 🫡🫡🫡

📢 We only have 1 day left!!!

The current status is 961,203
/ 1,000,000 this is SO close we can do it!!

Please it just takes 1 minute!

I've made a game about building medieval castles! 🏰 you can play it here: mattstark.itch.io/islandoodle-ii

Various sketches of buildings and a section of a 1493 map of Rome from the Nuremberg chronicle

The style's loosely based off woodcut maps of Italy from the Nuremberg chronicle, old maps are so cool

basilica by mattstark a minimalist cathedral builder

just uploaded another building game, this one's smaller and more basic than the others I've made but I thought I'd share it anyway 😊 mattstark.itch.io/basilica

I made this procedural puzzle game a while back but never finished or shared it, so I decided to amend that 😁 You can play it here: mattstark.itch.io/landflip

Today, the UK government announced a proposal to change copyright law - for the benefit of AI companies - that would cause huge, irreversible harm to creators.

More info below, but most importantly here's what you can do (wherever you live):

1. Email your MP. Template letter in 🧵 👇

1/10

Thanks! I started it about 2 months ago and worked on it most weekends. I wasn't starting from scratch though, since I re-used various bits of code from my previous building games.

a sketch of a cross-section of underground streets, with tunnels and an elevator

a screenshot from the development of Vaulton, showing an early version of the game with concept sketches drawn over it

a screenshot of the part of development where I was writing the light source placement code. They're scattered around an untextured space

a screenshot of some tunnels just before I started adding house models

some more development pics

how to build elevators and bridges in Vaulton! u can play it here: mattstark.itch.io/vaulton #gamedev

Vaulton by mattstark a minimalist city builder

My underground city builder is done! You can play it here:
mattstark.itch.io/vaulton

Yeah you're welcome to feature my games! 😁

Houses near Waterloo Station in London

Wall clutter inside a London Underground station (Elephant & Castle I think?)

A spiral staircase inside a London Underground station (Elephant & Castle I think?)

A heavily weathered wall with windows near Waterloo Station in London

It's mostly based on London, I love how clutter from different eras stacks up

A sketch of an underground street with adjoining tunnels

A game screenshot showing a similar underground street with adjoining tunnels

Initial concept vs result! I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted with this one haha

Screenshot of a building game showing underground Victorian-style streets, houses, tunnels, bridges and other features.

Screenshot of a building game showing underground Victorian-style streets, houses, tunnels, bridges and other features.

Screenshot of a building game showing underground Victorian-style streets, houses, tunnels, bridges and other features.

Screenshot of a building game showing underground Victorian-style streets, houses, tunnels, bridges and other features.

It's a bit different to the previous ones I've made because there's only one material, so all the features (tunnels, streets, bridges, stairs, elevators, trains) are produced by different patterns of cells

Vaulton by mattstark a minimalist city builder

My underground city builder is done! You can play it here:
mattstark.itch.io/vaulton

We got Best Puzzle

Thanks! There's various systems at work. First it generates tunnels and elevators, then it generates the larger spaces, starting with streets then stairs, houses, balconies etc

a screenshot of the meshes of a game where the mesh on the edge of a rock voxel is highlighted

a game screenshot showing rocks with seaweed and corals, fish, and a greenhouse

Even for organic stuff there's many approaches. For Islandoodle I just used conventional heightmaps for the terrain and rivers, while in the fish tank one I used billboarding meshes on the edges of rock to get the look I wanted

A screenshot showing the wireframe meshes of a building game, with a wall highlighted

A screenshot showing the wireframe meshes of a building game, with a bridge highlighted

A screenshot showing the wireframe meshes of a building game, with house details highlighted

Kind of a variety - I start with an idea of how it should look then split it up where necessary. I've used the corner pieces approach in the past but I've not found myself needing it for these cause it's more useful for organic shapes like caves and islands

Gonna be called Vaulton I think! That's been the working title, and I brainstormed others but I prefer it. I like how it's both vault-town and volt-town, cause the tech is kinda electric retrofuture 💡⚡

It varies, but the last two each took a couple months where I'd be mostly doing it on the weekends. It helps that they re-use stuff like the save system and interactions. I'm trying to keep up a good pace and not get too perfectionist about things - once an asset is done, it's done 😅

⛏️⛏️⛏️ #gamedev

the GIFs stopped working, looks like for now I gotta convert them to video

The texture atlas for my game Fish Tank Greenhouse, with various plant textures on a grid.

The texture atlas for my game Coal Toy, with windows, walls, terrain and tree textures.

yep! I usually do rough concept sketches on paper then model them in Blender. Each of these projects uses a single texture atlas for all the models, which streamlines the process and helps me get the colours, shapes etc feeling harmonious

the GIF stopped working, looks like for now I gotta manually convert them to video

the GIF stopped working, looks like for now I gotta manually convert them to video 🚋