Pastime Games

AI is great for building quick tools that only devs will use.

Having a game loop working early the you can enhance is motivating. Try not to leave your game in a broken state. "Art is never finished, only abandoned" - Leonardo da Vinci (it's evidentially debated if he ever wrote or said this, but it is a good quote anyway)

I went that way. Had a multi-player game working but the session management and scaling were a dev time sink. Decided to go with a simulated MP with AI opponents instead. NPC-AI managed on the server for at least some IP protection in a browser game. #webdev #indiedev #gamedev

Initially for fun in college. And now as a hobby. I'm not sure that makes me "in the games industry" though. To be honest, and not to be negative, game development seems like a very challenging way to make a living. Finding a large capital source would seem to be the way to go if that's your goal.

Solar Dominion with multiple planets and ships showing a ship navigation dashed line with arrowhead. All global and ship controls visible.

Image of Solar Dominion at a low zoom level. Planets move in orbit around the sun with position updates each 10-second turn. Single-player with five AI opponents. Desktop or mobile in browser - no install.

pastimegames.itch.io/solar-dominion

#indiegame #solodev #gamedev #webdev

Download the latest indie games itch.io is a simple way to find, download and distribute indie games online. Whether you're a developer looking to upload your game or just someone looking for something new to play itch.io has you co...

I like itch.io for browser-based games. Haven't thought of tackling steam but if I had an installable game would head that way.

Vanish, though there isn't that much difference to my eye.

PastimeGames

Solar Dominion solar-dominion.pastime.games is now live! You can also find it at pastimegames.itch.io. Solar Dominion is a turn-based space strategy game where you control a team competing against AIs to conquer the solar system. Browser-based for desktop and mobile. #indiegame #solodev #gamedev

With some practice, I've found that the productivity boost with LLMs makes game projects more doable.

I've been finding that using an AI assistant makes these projects go so much faster that I don't get worn out with the details.

My experience so far has been "build it and they will come" probably doesn't happen, so I've been working on an app to help me keep up with Bluesky using the API to pull posts and an LLM to analyze the posts. Trying to manage my social media time, but it's where the audience resides.

I've been enjoying creating smaller games that are steps along the way to a bigger game maybe some day. Vibe coding on Replit has made this very practical. This single-player game taught me all about desktop/mobile and server component for IP protection. solar-dominion.pastime.games

PastimeGames

Solar Dominion solar-dominion.pastime.games is now live! You can also find it at pastimegames.itch.io. Solar Dominion is a turn-based space strategy game where you control a team competing against other AI teams to conquer the solar system. No install required. Browser-based for desktop and mobile.