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Dri

@dreamnoid.com
3.3K followers 147 following 580 posts

AAA game dev, also making indie action-adventure games in my spare time under the 'Dreamnoid' label: dreamnoid.itch.io and store.steampowered.com/dev/dreamnoid

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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 29/09/2026
Remember when decompilation projects were all about learning how the game works under the hood rather than scoring a cheap PC port? :')
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lily valeen @itsmelilyv.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
imo part of "make small games" is really "let yourself make imperfect games" when you stop worrying about being perfect you can let yourself try goofy-ass things and see if they work!! and if they don't it's fine. it's not gonna be your last game, right?
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jazz mickle @queenjazz.gay · 27/09/2026
conventional wisdom for the entire time i've been programming has always been "less code is better". the idea that we must write more code faster is ridiculous. the problem has never been rate of output
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jazz mickle @queenjazz.gay · 27/09/2026
my current focus on writing games specifically for retro systems is partly in response to this, the toolchains im using are all a decade old, long before LLM coding was even thought of. and yet, it will last longer than most software being written right now
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 26/09/2026
Still wish I had a depth buffer... Making the painter's algorithm work is tough. Gotta avoid polygon overlap at all cost
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 28/03/2026
SDL_GPU is super cool but all I really want is a depth buffer to go with SDL_RenderGeometry (+ perspective correct texture mapping). That's it. No shaders, no pipelines. Maybe I should try to write a simple software renderer...
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 24/09/2026
This. Also very frustrating when players treat you, the developer, as a living wiki/walkthrough when your intention was for them to figure it out by communicating with each other. You want to be accessible but still keep some secrets
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 21/09/2026
I'm working on a post-jam update for Starfall Advance. Among the stuff I'm excited about was finding a way to lift the maximum number of tiles. The environments really benefit from the extra tiles! #gbadev #homebrew
A screenshot of Starfall Advance showing the player in a casino.A screenshot of Starfall Advance showing the player in a spa doubling as a boss arena.A screenshot of Starfall Advance showing the player in front of a lighthouse.A screenshot of Starfall Advance showing the player outside of the casino.
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 13/09/2026
Starfall Advance, my free monster-catching RPG (inspired by #pokemon) for the Game Boy Advance is out on itch! dreamnoid.itch.io/starfall-adv... #gbadev #homebrew
dreamnoid.itch.io
Starfall Advance by Dreamnoid
An original monster-catching RPG for Game Boy Advance
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BrewOtaku Homebrew Retro Gaming Magazine @brewotaku.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Starfall Advance (2026) by Dreamnoid for Game Boy Advance. Five years after two comets collided, Spirits roam the land. Sign up as a Medium, earn badges from eight Lab Officers, then brave Ground Zero. 🎁 dreamnoid.itch.io/starfall-adv... #homebrew #gba #retro #game #starfalladvance @dreamnoid.com
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 16/09/2026
I'm probably on record somewhere saying I dislike how Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire looks, but I must admit FireRed/LeafGreen are a marked improvement. I still wish the environments were denser, with less empty space on screen, but yeah, way better!
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Kris 🎃 Lorischild @direkris.itch.io · 13/09/2026
Again: it should not be down to a social media campaign for someone at Valve, which takes a 30% cut of every sale, to do their job
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 14/09/2026
A YouTuber did a review of my game The Trespasser, which would have been nice if they didn't AI-generate the thumbnail. The game is unrecognizable. The protagonist now has 3 arms, uses an assault-rifle instead of a sword and the enemies are the most generic designs ever. Why...? So disheartening :(
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 13/09/2026
Starfall Advance, my free monster-catching RPG (inspired by #pokemon) for the Game Boy Advance is out on itch! dreamnoid.itch.io/starfall-adv... #gbadev #homebrew
dreamnoid.itch.io
Starfall Advance by Dreamnoid
An original monster-catching RPG for Game Boy Advance
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Bruno Dias @brunodias.dev · 11/09/2026
I feel like AAA is caught in a vicious cycle where the margins are so tight for big games that they're not allowed to fail, therefore they're made under extreme scrutiny, therefore often large amounts of work gets thrown out, therefore they cost more to make...
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Daniel Alba @daniel.gvg.io · 10/09/2026
Kaori Mizuhashi is the original voice of Navi the fairy, a voice that many of us grew up with. It sounds like she's returning to reprise the role in the Japanese version, nearly 28 years later. Clip of an old promotional video for Ocarina of Time where she guided you, fully voiced.
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 09/09/2026
First real test on hardware for my next Game Boy Advance game, Starfall Advance.
A photo of a Nintendo DS Lite showing the title screen of my new GBA homebrew, Starfall Advance.
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 09/09/2026
First real test on hardware for my next Game Boy Advance game, Starfall Advance.
A photo of a Nintendo DS Lite showing the title screen of my new GBA homebrew, Starfall Advance.
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Max Nichols @maxnichols.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I've got somewhat mixed, but overall positive, feelings towards the Ocarina remake. I'm excited to play it in November
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KZ @kzxcellent.live · 10/11/2025
I read a thread about games with terrible UI earlier and this video has been destroying me all day.
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 08/09/2026
Still not entirely sold on #Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake's art direction, but it's overall better than I expected. It really seems to be OoT made palatable for a new generation, but that's too tame an ambition to really echo the experience we got in 98
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 05/09/2026
Nice touch but the 3D renders don't have half the charm of the early Nomura style portraits
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 30/08/2026
If you listen to AI apologists, you would think programmers write a lot of mindless boilerplate code, which is only true if you're very bad at your job
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Jason Cordova @jasoncordova.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The Watchmen show on HBO was so effing good, and I feel like it should be better regarded than it is. They took one of the greatest literary works of all time and made an equally momentous sequel in the form of a show, and we should talk about that more.
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 30/08/2026
Same. I sometimes feel like an impostor when I say such and such games are my favorites and super influential on my work and yet I have only played them once or twice, decades ago. But it's not like I can forget how they made me feel, and the moment-to-moment gameplay was only a means to an end.
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 26/08/2026
Putting aside the stunning GBA version, I wonder why the 3D remake looks so much worse to me than the 8bit original. Is it simply because I grew up in the GameBoy era or is there more to it?
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Max Nichols @maxnichols.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
The more time I've spent studying and analyzing the Zelda series, studying how the devs thought with my project @hyruleinterviews.bsky.social, and taking a longer view... the more clear it is to me that there has never been a "Zelda formula". It's a series defined by a constant push for change
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 21/08/2026
I've been changing my tools and workflows to store as much text as possible in Word or Google Docs, to benefit from their autocorrect/Antidote and to make localization possible. But this level of indirection from where you need the text adds real friction so I still find myself inlining some stuff..
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dr. hazel 🕯️ @hazelmonforton.com · 16/08/2026
I love science fantasy. Give me magic in space. Give me glowing crystals that do math. Give me spaceships with psychic powers.
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 15/08/2026
The first L in LLM means 'large' and that kind of scale can only be reached by stealing. You can absolutely do ethical machine learning, but ethical LLMs are science-fiction
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Sam Barlow 🔥 @mrsambarlow.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Noki Bay is one of my favorite levels. A real natural wonder of the gaming world
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 14/08/2026
Gotta wonder how much Bureau Valley paid for those AI-generated slop ads. Anyway, that's not how books work
A pseudo-cartoonish AI-generated illustration for an ad. A kid(?) is wrapping a school book into plastic wrapper. The book's binding is on the wrong side.
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Tomas Sala @falconeerdev.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I think personally the struggle to make lavish productions but being unable to is the friction I enjoy myself . It's led me to apply my "never use premade textures" rule for a decade now. Shipshaper still doesn't use textures btw.. you can apply your own limitations, and it's worthwhile.
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Tomas Sala @falconeerdev.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
When someone creates Solo rather than in a team , that is not interesting cuz some imagined extraordinary feat. No! it is all the limitations and shortcuts they have to take, to overcome real limits, that lead to interesting creative outcomes. The limitations are the point.
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 12/08/2026
It's cool that I will miss a rare astrological event because my government isn't interested in actually governing. Cool cool cool, see you in 55 years I guess
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Nifflas @nifflas.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Knytt has been faitfully recreated by @bitkidgames.com to run on current operating systems and was just released on Steam and GOG, completely free Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/2656050/...
store.steampowered.com
Knytt Classic on Steam
Celebrate the 20th anniversary of the indie freeware classic, rebuilt for modern machines! Explore a maze-like planet as the Knytt, a peaceful being abducted by aliens, find your missing ship parts, a...
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 06/08/2026
New #gamedesign article: "What is a #metroidvania?" where I explain my frustrations with trying to use a list of features to define a genre rather than look at the central theme that drives the experience: dreamnoid.com/articles/wha...
dreamnoid.com
What is a metroidvania? - Dreamnoid
A different way to look at a genre that is hard to define.
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 06/08/2026
New #gamedesign article: "What is a #metroidvania?" where I explain my frustrations with trying to use a list of features to define a genre rather than look at the central theme that drives the experience: dreamnoid.com/articles/wha...
dreamnoid.com
What is a metroidvania? - Dreamnoid
A different way to look at a genre that is hard to define.
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jae holzman @jael.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
has anyone unpacked christopher nolan casting a trans person to be the distraction sacrifice for a trojan horse to enter, and then destroy, civilization
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Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮 @malicedafirenze.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
the irony of game investors or publishers somehow deciding there is *less* risk in pouring all of their money into one AAA massive live service game in a saturated market instead of spreading out to make like 10 somewhat original things in separate underserved niches will never cease to amaze me
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Ann Leckie @annleckie.com · 31/07/2026
For writers worried that they won't be able to "prove" their work isn't Spicy Autocomplete--worry not. You thought about every choice and will be able to talk about those choices easily and clearly. Folks who used the slop machine didn't make choices and won't have anything to say about why
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 25/07/2026
Not having a good time right now (I will let you guess where I live)
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 27/07/2026
I knew Gemini would come for us eventually and I was dreading this day. So far I append "-ai" to the end of my search queries and it works, but it's tedious and easy to forget, so I'm interested in those kinds of automated setups
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 25/07/2026
Not having a good time right now (I will let you guess where I live)
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 22/07/2026
I'm still not convinced by that point. It's like lamenting that someone who only watches re-runs of Friends on TV doesn't go to the movies often enough. Film is involved in both cases, sure, but beyond that it's two completely different hobbies and two different audiences
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Dri @dreamnoid.com · 17/07/2026
I hate when people claim that "AI is just a tool!". What kind of craftsman has "stealing from your peers" in their toolbox?
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Mike Bithell @mikebithell.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
If you use generative AI, alongside 20 other issues, you are massively exposing yourself legally. It’ll take a while for the hammer to fall on all this stuff, but it’s coming. It’s obviously and innevitably coming.
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Robin-Yann Storm @rystorm.com · 15/07/2026
I keep seeing arguments for games being expensive due to hyper realistic expectations for art, or simply lots of art. What I don’t see is the actual most costly reason: Indecision Iteration is good, but the yearly rebuilding of entire characters, storylines, and levels, is the most expensive thing
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Eniko Fox @enikofox.com · 12/07/2026
Tbh my biggest advice for aspiring indie developers is that you simply cannot go 2-4 years between releases
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kaikairos @kaikairos.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Little Beast in the Big Maze is now listed on Steam. Coming January 15,2027. Run to wishlist it today! store.steampowered.com/app/4458220/...
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