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Dennispr

@dennis.videogameworkshop.com

430 followers 340 following 470 posts

I make games that might teach you a thing or two! Currently making cool stuff at www.videogameworkshop.com I talk about designing developing and playing games + programming. PhD, Speaker: LEGO, GDC, TEDx Previous: Hero Elementary + Skillsville

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 10d

We got to complain about Other M’s progression system in this week’s blog!

Videogame Workshop @videogameworkshop.com · 10d

The last thing any designer wants is for a player to reach a state in the game that’s unbeatable. So, what do you do? Lock it!

#GameDev #IndieGameDev #GameDesign

Directing Players with Keys

The last thing any designer wants is for a player to reach a state in the game that’s unbeatable. So, what do you do? Lock it!

videogameworkshop.substack.com

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 17h

The very first message sent on the internet was "Login" but the system crashed after the first two letters. They tried it again and it worked the second time....

Which technically means the first 3 letters transmitted over the internet were "LoL"

www.pbs.org/newshour/sci...

How a simple ‘hello’ became the first message sent via the Internet

No fanfare. No cleverly contrived quote for the history books. And yet, at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 1969, three months after Neil Armstrong’s famous step, came another giant leap for mankind....

www.pbs.org

Reposted by Dennispr

videogame history @vghistory.bsky.social · 1d

illustration, load sinclair, magazine (1986) archive.org/details/Load...

a dark caped vampire with white hair and a thin wiry hand is using a computer with a game on the screen containing flying bats. music is playing as demonstrated by lines and notes in the air.

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 1d

It's fun to see so many people say they're gonna move to Linux cause of Microsoft's latest thing, but let's be real

Y'all are not desperate, poor or hateful enough... yet.

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 1d

The plan was simple: remove user input, which had long been the bane of Microsoft, once and for all.

Tom Warren @tomwarren.co.uk · 1d

This is the future of Windows. Microsoft wants to rewrite Windows to turn computers into AI PCs that you talk to. It's now bringing AI features to all Windows 11 PCs today, in a bid to convince you to talk to your PC and let AI control it. Full details 👇 www.theverge.com/news/799768/...

Microsoft wants you to talk to your PC and let AI control it

Copilot Voice and Vision are now rolling out.

www.theverge.com

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 1d

It's on my keyboard too :/

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 1d

Players will enjoy these sidequests and optional things to collect!

The player:

#gamedesign #gamedev #indiedev

A picture of a winding road with a path worn directly through it because people took shortcuts.

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 2d

Collect-em-all, but with Frankenstein.

Call it "Body Builder"

A picture from The Wolf of Wall Street with Matthew McConaughey pitching to Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio seems concerned, McConaughey is intense.

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 3d

Charlie and I wrote a whole series of blogs about prototypes for #blocktober. This one is more of an intro, and we have one for paper prototypes, wireframes, and greyboxes.

#gamedev #indiedev

Videogame Workshop @videogameworkshop.com · 3d

Did you know X-Com was almost canceled? They were saved by their prototype.

#gamedesign #gamedev #gameproduction

A Prototype Can Save Your Game

A prototype is a small playable version of your game; making one can save you a lot of time and money.

open.substack.com

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 3d

i'm going to use these in all my game design slideshows from now on.

#gamedev #indiedev

An image showing Mr freeze with the caption "did Batman really think a gamer could stop me?"

An image with the character saying "this is a gamer issue Batman's a dinosaur what could he even do?"

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 4d

Yes totally! They make money off of your content but bringing people to your page decreases their traffic so they make it hard to leave. Being a veteran of the old Internet I'm grumpy about it and kinda wish we'd all switch back to RSS and webrings.

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 4d

There's a big push around social media to limit outgoing posts mainly to keep people on the platform. X, Facebook etc bury outgoing links limiting impressions etc. The guy who made patreon gave a pretty good sxsw talk about it.

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 4d

I'd like to be included if you still have some room!

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 4d

An important part of game design is being responsive and vague enough to account for the player's choices.

#gamedev #gamedesign #indiedev #narrativedesign

A fortune cookie with the description "go for the gold today! You'll be the champion of whatever."

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 6d

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 6d

I think the aether drift Eternal Might deck is slept on. Great zombie tribal out of the box. The EoE precons were good too!

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 6d

Alright devs, liking videogames already puts you on the board so what's your Demonic Possession Score (tm)?

Cyberpunk culture and postmodernism put me somewhere above 15.

#gamedev #indiedev #halloween

A list of things that make up "Satan's spiritual structure" the list is:

Eastern religions

Yoga

Freemasonry

Illuminati groups

New Age religions

Church of Satan

Scientology

Rosicrucianism

Astrology

Tarot cards

Ouija boards

Remote viewing

Palmistry

Voodoo

Earth Worship

Wicca

Cyberpunk culture

Divination

Meditation

Vegetarianism

Lycanthropy

Postmodernism

Backmasking

Astral-projection

Necromancy

Re-birthing

Kabbalah

LOTR

Fire walking

Levitation

Alt “comix”

Vampirism

Trilateralism

Marihuana

Pot parties

LSD/shrooms

Video games

Harry Potter

Dungeons & Dragons

Halloween

Fornication

Skull & Bones

Rock music

Heavy metal

Burning man

Twilight films

Raves & XTC

Goth culture

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 7d

How hard could it be to port this game to console? They have the same controls, right?

#gamedev #indiedev #programming

A controller with the WASD keys instead of an analog stick

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 8d

The ti-83 is technically one of the most long-lived home consoles of all time. And it supports home brew games!

LaurieWired @lauriewired.bsky.social · 8d

Graphing Calculators like the TI-83 receive a lot of hate for perceived obsoleteness.

Unironically, it’s one of the few times that younger generations experience a limited computing system.

The creativity from boredom, no phone, etc makes for some interesting programming.

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 8d

Modern people: “Haha. Witches brewing potions and flying on brooms!”

The witches: brewing hallucinogens, finding creative delivery systems.
"Oh, we were flying...”

#witches #halloween #folklorethursday

So why do the brooms fit into this? Because to achieve their hallucinations, these early drug users needed a distribution method that was a little more complicated than simple ingestion. When consumed, those old-school hallucinogens could cause assorted unpleasantnesses—including nausea, vomiting, and skin irritation. What people realized, though, was that absorbing them through the skin could lead to hallucinations that arrived without the unsavory side effects. And the most receptive areas of the body for that absorption were the sweat glands of the armpits ... and the mucus membranes of the genitals.

So people used their developing pharmacological knowledge to produce drug-laden balms—or, yep, "witch's brews." And to distribute those salves with maximum effectiveness, these crafty hallucinators borrowed a technology from the home: a broom. Specifically, the handle of the broom. And then ... you get the idea.

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 8d

I've got a good one. I made a save system for one of our games. It worked well, so we used it for a new game.

Everything was going good at first, but then our testers reported weird errors when they tried to play. Turns out it was reading the previous games save file.

Add a version string y'all!

GameDev.tv @gamedevtv.bsky.social · 8d

💬 What’s the nastiest bug you’ve ever slain?

#GameDev #IndieDev #DevWisdom #CursedDev

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 10d

Aesthetics seem to matter way more than mechanics for this genre. Devs I've talked with think it's because people disagree about what mechanics are or are not cozy. That said, almost everyone can get behind classifying something that looks like Yoshi's wooly world as cozy.

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 10d

100 tabs open. YouTube mini palyer hovering on top.

The Verge @theverge.com · 10d

Google’s latest AI model uses a web browser like you do

Gemini’s “computer use” model can scroll and click its way through a browser.

buff.ly

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 10d

We got to complain about Other M’s progression system in this week’s blog!

Videogame Workshop @videogameworkshop.com · 10d

The last thing any designer wants is for a player to reach a state in the game that’s unbeatable. So, what do you do? Lock it!

#GameDev #IndieGameDev #GameDesign

Directing Players with Keys

The last thing any designer wants is for a player to reach a state in the game that’s unbeatable. So, what do you do? Lock it!

videogameworkshop.substack.com

Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 10d

When you mess up the code you can just do "git restore" to roll it back!

Me: yes I certainly don’t just delete the whole thing and check it out again….

#gamedev #indiedev #programming

A meme showing a screen shot from Alines with Ripley saying “nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure"

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Dennispr @dennis.videogameworkshop.com · 11d

Congrats to everyone who participated! This stuff is hard!

I'm looking forward to playing some entries.

Ludum Dare @ludumdare.com · 11d

And the Ludum Dare 58 Jam has ended. It's now submission hour! Package up and submit your game now! Then, start playing and rating your peers games!

NOTE: If you're account is new, it may take a few minutes @distraction.engineer to approve you. Don't fret! They is on it! #LDJam