iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Gareth Williams

TheGameLlama @thegamellama.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

The first and best MMORPG on the Playdate. It's Pointless Quest on Playdate Unofficial: www.playdateunofficial.com/the-games/pointless-quest

playdateunofficial.com

Pointless Quest — Playdate: The Unofficial Website

The first MMORPG on the Playdate didn’t have to go this hard.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 20/06/2026

I launched the first multiplayer RPG for @play.date, PointlessQuest a week ago. The response has been kinda mindblowing: - 270 players have scored at least 1XP - Average of 80 returning players a day - Lots of community stories of grouping up and helping each other. #playdate #indiegame #mmorpg

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Reposted by Gareth Williams

Conrad @invaderoid.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

There's a multiplayer online RPG for Playdate from the developer of Legend of Etad and Tau that goes live this Saturday. It's called PointlessQuest and the client is already free to sideload. gareth.itch.io/pq

gareth.itch.io

PointlessQuest by Gareth Williams

MORPG for the Playdate

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 11/06/2026

consider this the official bs announcement post 😀

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Reposted by Gareth Williams

brendon bigley @bb.wavelengths.online · 11/06/2026

there's a whole-ass MMO coming to playdate on saturday by @gareth.pw and it looks incredible. there's even voice chat??? gareth.itch.io/pq

gareth.itch.io

PointlessQuest by Gareth Williams

MORPG for the Playdate

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 27/04/2026

PAYG more like SAYV Spaff As You Vibe

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 24/11/2025

Was also in the tent, right in the pit. It'll forever be number one on my top gigs list.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 07/09/2025

An actual gameplay loop! I added a ton of stuff today that I didn't write much about, so I'll mention some of that tomorrow 😴 #gamedev

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 06/09/2025

I *will* get on with the actual game, but ~~~

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 06/09/2025

Started working on gamestate, but then got sidetracked making the levels load in and out with easing: #gamedev

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 06/09/2025

I added some extra geometry to the side of the blocks to allow for an added "ledge" texture that doesn't skew too badly with the diagonals. Unfortunately, the texture itself is very programmer art 🫠 Oh, I also have an overlaid grid so you can still clearly make out the level topology.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 06/09/2025

While the monochromatic Marble Madness style grid undoubtedly looked great in the 80s, I'm aiming to lean into a cosy-diorama look. So I cooked up a triplanar shader and dug through all my unloved Asset Store purchases to find some textures. #gamedev

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 05/09/2025

And here's a timelapse of putting together a simple level with all the editor functions I have so far. I imagine I'll need to add multi-select if I start making levels in earnest. This level has a tricky but faster shortcut. I imagine the game will have fastest times per level!

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 05/09/2025

Used Render Objects combined with a new Shadergraph shader for this occluded ball effect. The renderobject simply swaps out the shader for anything on a given layer with a depth test. This was far easier than digging into code to put together a two-pass shader, which SG doesn't have UI for.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 05/09/2025

Oh, I forgot that I also added a URP decal projector to do the guide shadow on the ball, and turned off its shadow casting on the main light.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 05/09/2025

Made the ball intto this golden marble thing, and then added a squished torus as an end-point portal thing. I'll do more with that later. Added an object placement cursor mode to the editor, then a quick test mode switch. Also added some bounce to the ball, which feels quite fun!

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 05/09/2025

Added a modifier key to manipulate an edge or point separately from its neighbours. Got saving and loading working too.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 05/09/2025

One small detail I noticed: what you would expect to be a pyramid shape formed by raising a single point, isn't - because of the uniform triangulation of the faces. I can't think of an automatic solution to this that would be correct for all cases, so I simply added a button to swap the tris:

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 05/09/2025

Edge and point manipulation. Make a game more like remake Blender amirite?! I like how the AO kicks in as the angles increase, should make the ramps pop when everything's textured.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

I'm thinking I might limit levels to single screen dioramas for a really tight experience?

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

Didn't take long for me to get back on my bullshit, but this game's gonna need levels and that means an editor! So I'm now generating the level geometry and I've got this 10x10 grid I can toggle and raise and lower the blocks in. I'm using the new (to me) GPU buffer mesh api for this and I ❤️ it!

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

I like how things are OOTB these days. Some light post-processing, everything configured reasonably with all the settings objects in one place. Bear in mind it's been 3 years since I properly dug into a URP project. Yeah, I feel a bit behind. Thus this.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

Um, I should rundown what I'm using: - Unity 6.2 - The basic URP template project - New input system is default now so that - I'll be using shadergraph and maybe having a first look at VFX graph.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

I'm feeling like I wanna do something isometric like Madness, so I've switched to ortho and rotated 45. Of course, I also had to rotate the input axis so that north is still up and whatnot.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

I have a bunch of time this weekend, so expect to see more of this technological marble very soon 👀

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

So I spun up a project last night and got the basics in:

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

Anyway, I'm going to start with a ball roller 🤩 Hear me out though: even though ball rolling is literally Unity 101, I genuinely love ball rolling games. Marble Madness, Monkey Ball, Marble Blast Ultra. Get the feel right and you can just zone out and play. Single analogue stick kinda thing.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

Goals I guess: - Use latest Unity stuff. We're stuck on 2022 at work (because VR), and don't use many new(er) features that I'd like to explore. - Super simple game mechanics so I don't get bogged down in systems and UI. - Focus on feel and presentation. Learn some art tech?

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/09/2025

Alright, I'm gonna make a game! It's coming into Autumn now and I'm starting to feel twitchy about not having a personal project going on, and it's been a while. So what the heck. Dayjob takes up a lot of brainspace so I'm going to keep this really simple and fun and light, ok?

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 28/08/2025

Loled at Quang Bang! Happy birthday duder 🎉

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 17/07/2025

Got to 200 then immediately went back to 100 to start hunting. Got all but 2 nanas in 100 (just 100, not 101 or 102) before calling it a morning 😄

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 17/07/2025

Said he, at midnight: "Oh I'll just take a look at DK:B for half an hour" Good job I'm on holiday 😅

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 15/06/2025

Having an absolute sit in the garden this afternoon.

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Anna Hollinrake 🌤️ @annahollinrake.com · 20/05/2025

🚨 CRESCENT COUNTY KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!!! 🚨 Pledge now to - 🧹 drift and drive on your witch-tech motorbroom 🏍️ make deliveries by day, street race by night 💋 kiss your friends on the mouth?? 💫 BE GAY DO GLIDES 👇 BACK US HERE 👇 www.kickstarter.com/projects/ann...

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 20/05/2025

Just took receipt of our garden-lounger-recliney-bistro-set thingies, so I'm sorry for the weather for the next two weeks at least.

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 30/04/2025

Ah, glad it wasn't just me!

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 09/04/2025

Seriously considered heading to @developconference.com this year, but accommodation is 2-3 times more expensive than the last time I went in 2019. Not sure I'll ever be going again 😭

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 04/04/2025

I was about to say "oh snap you live along the road from my olds", but I'm fairly certain they've mentioned this before and I forgot. That's all, enjoy the ☀️ today!

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Gareth Williams @gareth.pw · 15/02/2025

Actually snorted out my coffee at the Irving watermelon.

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xavier 🐛🕶️👍🏻 @xxvvvrr.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Completado! Legend of Etad 🗡️ 🛡️ Thanks @garethiw.bsky.social @play.date

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