iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

benji @benji.gg · 15/08/2025

My new favorite thread on /r/gamedev, we should all aspire to be as ambitious as 4.3 Million Frogs guy

A Reddit post saying "My Game has about 43.8 Million Frogs to Collect" and asking if it is too many frogs.

OP starts to think that 4.3 million frags is in fact too many frogs.

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benji @benji.gg · 01/08/2025

More progress on #gmtk jam game. Hexagon tile world generation (reworked for 3D from an old project) and fog of war!

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benji @benji.gg · 31/07/2025

TIL I don't know how to create different animation poses in Blender... so I'm going to export each one as it's own model 🙃

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benji @benji.gg · 31/07/2025

Made a little knight for my #gmtk jam! I'm new to Blender so this has been a good learning opportunity for 3D stuff.

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benji @benji.gg · 24/05/2025

Been getting pretty good at this.

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benji @benji.gg · 19/05/2025

I like to watch the little people of my game move around like a stop motion film

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benji @benji.gg · 11/05/2025

Did a quick sketch of my cat. First time using a paper and pencil since freshman year of college lol

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benji @benji.gg · 30/04/2025

I have a habit of oversimplifying problems, and I think that's a good thing. I don't think two steps ahead, only focus on what's needed now to make something work. In this case, a unit test was an equality check in a stringizing macro. Everything else is just making the logs pretty!

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benji @benji.gg · 29/04/2025

Yes :D! I have my own unit testing lib, + it generates a report on memory usage to find leaks (removed a free to show as an example). For testing gameplay, I want to record user inputs and have a script re-run that game session. Hopefully get to build that system soon-ish!

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benji @benji.gg · 29/04/2025

More like a code cleanup than refactor. It should do all the same things, but consolidated into nicer API’s, that becomes clearer only after first getting things working and then observing my actual needs. And also because I’m at 140k hand written lines holy fuck lmao

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benji @benji.gg · 29/04/2025

I’m doing a big code refactor, so won’t be any big updates/screenshots for a minute. In the meantime enjoy this picture of my cat sleeping like a shrimp 🍤

Ragdoll cat sleeping in a pose that resembles a shrimp.

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benji @benji.gg · 10/04/2025

Hard to see how much bigger this bear is without seeing him next to a player character. Anyways, he's about x3 taller and x6 wider.

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benji @benji.gg · 28/03/2025

Sooo now that we've got SDF fonts, we HAD to try remaking Maplestory's damage effect. (Don't worry I'm not keeping it lol) #gamedev #indiedev

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benji @benji.gg · 27/03/2025

Sorry, nerdy post: I've added SDF font rendering and 9-slicing to my engine for better UI. This font (Renogare, from Celeste) isn't the one I'll be using in-game, it was just the roundest normal looking font I have installed. #gamedev

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benji @benji.gg · 21/03/2025

For sound effects, there's now a built-in synth designer (pretty much JFXR's UI). Here's a quick video of my trying—and failing—to design an attack sound for the slime enemy!

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benji @benji.gg · 21/03/2025

Finally added DearImGui by @ocornut.bsky.social to my project, and built this monster editor in two days. Really happy with how it came out! #gamedev

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benji @benji.gg · 19/03/2025

This meme was, 1000% unironically, the reference we used for the Beholder's attack animation

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benji @benji.gg · 18/03/2025

Behold! A Beholder! (Based on Eye of Cthulu from Terraria 👁️) #gamedev #indiedev #pixelart

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benji @benji.gg · 14/03/2025

Finished making a synth engine for my game so, instead of pre-recorded audio, sounds can be dynamically generated on the spot! This is me spamming my keyboard to play random notes. #gamedev #indiedev

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benji @benji.gg · 21/02/2025

I know this one looks like a lot of code, but it's really only saying two things: 1. How far are we? 2. How far is the "edge" from the center? If we pass the less than check, we make the player "grounded" and push ourselves up to be flush with the edge.

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benji @benji.gg · 21/02/2025

The last two steps showed how to calculate velocity. Now let's think about collision itself. Planets are just circles, AKA: - A center position - A radius So we just need to make sure our distance to the planet isn't less than it's own radius, and we're good!

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benji @benji.gg · 21/02/2025

To move left/right, we use the tangent (which as you can see comes from swapping the xy of the normal).

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benji @benji.gg · 21/02/2025

That sounds scary, but in fact the math is simple. You get the distance between the planet and the player using Pythagorean's Theorem, and then normalize it.

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benji @benji.gg · 21/02/2025

Instead, we need the "Normal" and "Tangent". The normal is the vector that points directly outward from the planet’s center to the player’s position. This tells us which way is “up”. The tangent is perpendicular (90°) to the normal. Movement “around” the planet follows this tangent.

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benji @benji.gg · 21/02/2025

In a *normal* game, -X is left, +X is right, and +Y is up. But when we're relative to a planet's surface, those directions have no actual meaning to us.

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benji @benji.gg · 21/02/2025

Two weeks ago for a game jam, I made 2D planet gravity from scratch... and it's really easy! Here's a short thread on how it works 🧵: #gamedev #tutorial

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benji @benji.gg · 21/02/2025

Finally 100%'d The Knight Witch by @supermegateam.bsky.social. Such an incredible game, really regret not trying it sooner. Might be my favorite Metroidvania I've played in years!

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benji @benji.gg · 10/02/2025

Working on adding different buildings to towns. #gamedev #pixelart #ドット絵

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benji @benji.gg · 09/02/2025

YES!!! Finally! (The game is "Dragonsweeper", by the same game dev who made 2023's "Storyteller", another fantastic game and a favorite of mine. Go play them both!)

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benji @benji.gg · 09/02/2025

FUCKING MIMIC!!!!!!!!!

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benji @benji.gg · 09/02/2025

getting... so... close...

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benji @benji.gg · 09/02/2025

HELP THIS IS THE FARTHEST I'VE GOTTEN AND I'M TOO SCARED TO MAKE A MOVE

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benji @benji.gg · 09/02/2025

took the screenshot and got blown up right after... i'm so bad at this game ;_;

Screenshot from the game "Dragonsweeper," which I am bad at playing.

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benji @benji.gg · 07/02/2025

Procedurally generated a new world... and it's kinda shaped like Italy??

Screenshot from a 2D pixel art game, showing a procedurally generated map that vaguely resembles Italy's iconic "boot heel" shape.

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benji @benji.gg · 06/02/2025

...and yeah I've been replaying Sonic Adventure 1 + 2, if you're wondering where this idea came from lol

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benji @benji.gg · 06/02/2025

New UI: wheel menu that appears only when necessary, no overlays, no clutter. Also, they can be "context aware," so you have more options at campsites and towns. #gamedev #indiedev

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benji @benji.gg · 03/02/2025

Everything has a skeleton :) #gamedev #indiedev

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benji @benji.gg · 02/02/2025

My game didn't feel like an "authentic" fantasy game until we added the low HP level 1 skeletons. Now where are my giant rats... #gamedev #indiedev

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benji @benji.gg · 12/01/2025

I should just give every character a massive cape, they make everything look 1000% cooler

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benji @benji.gg · 12/01/2025

Used the magic of copy/paste to make two new knight designs this morning. Yeah, it's kinda lazy, but players won't notice... 🤞 #gamedev #pixelart #ドット絵

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benji @benji.gg · 11/01/2025

I can't decide on the knight's colors. Which do you like best? Or none of the above? If I don't have an answer by tomorrow, I'm adding customization to the game, and making it everyone else's problem 😤 #gamedev #pixelart #ドット絵

Three color variations of a 2D pixel art knight, where each knight differs in the tint of their armor and the color of their cloak.

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benji @benji.gg · 09/01/2025

Finally back to work on my game, after a few weeks of holiday break. Almost finished the Traveling Merchant's sprite! He needs some more junk in his wagon and then he'll be done. #pixelart #ドット絵

2D pixel art of a wandering merchant, holding up his makeshift cart of wares.

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benji @benji.gg · 01/01/2025

2023: Our game didn’t get published, had 3 different jobs (survived 2 tech layoffs), and lost a loved one. 2024: Another family loss, kitten diagnosed with heart condition, didn’t do much game dev. 2025: Still employed, nobody dead, new game projects on the horizon. There’s hope! Not giving up!!!

Anime man standing on a bidet, exclaiming “I really love computers!”

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benji @benji.gg · 19/12/2024

Mocking up a new in-game UI... thoughts? Trying to keep it working on as many screen sizes as possible by anchoring it to the right/left sides of the screen without interrupting the action in the middle. #gamedev #indiedev

Mockup image of a pixel art inventory in a 2D game.

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benji @benji.gg · 19/12/2024

they’re playing my song at the club…

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benji @benji.gg · 17/12/2024

schmorgi's helping me code better

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