iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

so, I guess, if it's what people want it's fine and I respect that. but I just don't love it being touted as "objectively better" in this way. if I work tirelessly for multiple days on a game, it's not me "normalizing crunch culture", it's me being genuinely passionate! that's just how I work :)

000

while 96h does have some potential benefits, I find they don't really pay off. I typically don't iterate much after figuring out an initial design, because I care very much about polish and want to make a "complete product" within the jam. the extra days just stretches out the same amount of work.

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as a result, the last two jams left me absolutely exhausted and needing time to recover, in a way previous years didn't. ratings starting immediately after didn't help, because with ~10k games this year it was more difficult to get enough ratings, and the start is the most critical time for that.

100

perhaps the idea is that you no longer need to work on the game for the full jam period, and eg. take longer breaks, but for me it really doesn't work like that. taking an extended break requires breaking my focus / flow state, and I find that imposes a very real cost on the quality of my work.

100

I can respect a general consensus, but personally I do wish it was still 48 (or at least 72). for me, I find longer jams are _more_ stressful, not less - work expands to fill the time it's given! I don't end up making any larger of a game, and instead am just under stress for an extra two days.

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 04/08/2025

🎮 Get the game here: berry-games.itch.io/stardrops 📋 Rate the game here: itch.io/jam/gmtk-202... 🎵 Get the soundtrack here: samgorman272.bandcamp.com/album/the-ta...

berry-games.itch.io

The Tale of the Lost Stardrops by Berry Games, python-b5

Launch between orbits on a journey to find the Stardrops lost in space!

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 04/08/2025

The Tale of the Lost Stardrops, @samgorman.ca and my #GMTK2025 entry, is out now! It's a precise, physics-based collectathon about launching between orbits in space. Give it a try if it sounds interesting! #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #GMTKJam

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 02/08/2025

Doing a space-themed game for #GMTK2025 with @samgorman.ca - the main mechanics are just about finished now! We're trying something more physics-based this time. #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #GMTKJam

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 26/07/2025

(I can't draw so I just did a cop-out with a 💜) thank you for making this game, toby! it's been a big influence on my own work. glad we have this opportunity to celebrate it for the anniversary.

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 06/07/2025

I agree! anything of mine that's not a git repo (since those don't play well with cloud syncing) is generally in my dropbox, since I regularly use multiple machines. that includes music/pictures/etc - I don't use the default windows folders for that stuff. I've never used the desktop folder once!

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 06/07/2025

gamemaker's a bit inconsistent about this. Documents/GameMakerProjects seems to sometimes be used, or %userprofile%/GameMakerProjects - it might differ between IDE versions, and I have a lot of projects so I'm not sure. personally I clone repos to just Documents, I don't use the gamemaker folders.

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 27/06/2025

but insults are a whole different thing, and is never acceptable. I don't think UTY is perfect; there are things I would've changed, or that I think could've used more revision. but being rude to the devs, who spent years on it _for free_... I don't get why people think they're entitled to do that.

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 27/06/2025

I'm 100% a proponent of being able to criticize things. even with my all-time favorite games, I can - and sometimes do - talk about several things I dislike about them, and I think that's a good thing to be able to do as it allows you to be able to think more critically about media.

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 27/06/2025

the audacity of being rude to fangame developers who put in years of effort, when the majority of these people have never even attempted game development themselves... ugh 😕

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 20/06/2025

you did a great job on it! music minigames elsewhere can sometimes feel like an afterthought, but this one actually feels good to play, and that makes all the difference. I also loved how even the original chart in chapter 3 doesn't feel dumbed down - there were some fun rhythms in there!

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 20/06/2025

@samgorman.ca and I recently updated our #GMTK2024 game, Key to Success - a rhythm platformer where you can change the key of the music - with several improvements to the gameplay and music. It's one of my favorite games of ours, so give it a try! #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart #GMTKJam

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my most recent jam game, for example, has several minigames that each run within a single object. that makes it much easier to control the execution order, which otherwise can sometimes be difficult in gamemaker. doing that would be a lot harder if I couldn't just draw sprites without intervention.

000

in 3D, the "call draw functions manually" approach doesn't work anyway, so it's useful to have an existing structure to work within. but for a 2D game, it's possible to have near-total control, and I don't want to give that up. gamemaker provides abstractions, but I'm not forced into them.

100

yeah, definitely agree. I could see people enjoying godot's nodes as a more high-level view of assembling a game, but most of the time I don't subscribe to the idea that game logic should be split into a billion tiny predefined components, when a single readable code file would do just fine.

yeah, this is why I didn't click with it myself. it's an impressive project and I'm happy so many people enjoy working with it, but the node-based system doesn't mesh well with how I like to think about making games. I think it's a good thing that we have multiple options in this space, though!

030

slopes just automatically working gives me pause, though; if it's using transparent pixels that's usually not a great choice for terrain. ideally you would be able to customize the collision mask of each individual tile. otherwise I personally would not use this, as I need control over my collision.

don't know how I missed this, this is great! I have many older projects from years past with various versions of custom tile_collision functions; it always felt like a bit of a gap in the engine to me. it's a very common thing to need, especially for platformers.

it's got its quirks like all engines, but the lighter-feeling structure of the engine gets out of my way and doesn't feel overbearing. I can work faster in gamemaker than in anything else I've tried. I don't know of a better engine for pixel art games, and I wish it were more popular than it is...

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 09/06/2025

gamemaker is a lot less prescriptive than other engines, which I appreciate. I don't have to "attach a sprite component" or whatever - I can just call draw_sprite. I can run the whole game in a single object if I really want! the abstractions that exist are fairly lightweight.

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it only becomes a problem when that critique stops coming from a good place, and is used to attack others who enjoyed those parts of the work. unfortunately that has happened far too much in this fandom, and it does need to stop.

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 09/06/2025

but, I still think it's good to be able to criticize things, even things you love! I have plenty of critiques of the new deltarune chapters, mostly involving pacing, but I still really enjoyed playing through them. constructively critiquing things can be useful when taking lessons for your own work.

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 09/06/2025

I don't think the graphical inconsistency issue is completely invalid to bring up, it's just deltarune does it sometimes too now lmao (ignoring definitely intentional contrast like the 3D renders in ch3) the room outside noelle's house has some disconnect with the rest of hometown, for instance

100

definitely agree with you on the ib remake. the original game's ui was imo very nicely done, and the charm it had was lost in the new design. the higher resolution art also makes the game feel "cheaper" to me, in some sense, though I'm not sure why it does, exactly...

100

1:1 and 2:1 isn't too bad - that's what undertale/deltarune do! my main issue is when pixel art games aren't really running at a true low resolution internally, as does seem to be the case with the off remake. (though, that can be done tastefully too, like with celeste.)

most noticeable example is the dust particles, but even the text is slightly misaligned! a lot of stuff in the battles was a bit off, too. definitely not a huge deal, but I always enjoyed the pixel-perfection of rpg maker 2k/2k3 games, and it's a bit of a shame to see that has been somewhat lost :(

the new ui looks quite nice, and all the little details are great! I am a little disappointed with the high frequency of mixels though. it could be my nonstandard resolution, but there's a lot that isn't aligned to the pixel grid, which is odd considering there's a "pixel perfect" scaling mode...

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 18/05/2025

the save names are merely for organization, to help keep track of multiple playthroughs. think of it like an alias. the video shows an example of this, with a save being named "BRAVERY" (the name of our pacifist route). it's just a quality of life feature. riley's still riley, that doesn't change!

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 18/05/2025

glad to see the enthusiasm, but I should clarify - you are not naming the human here! riley is named riley no matter what, they are not a self-insert. notice how, when a save is selected in the menu, the file name fades out and is replaced with "Riley".

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 17/05/2025

we've got @waterinc.bsky.social to thank for the visual design - I only did the programming! I suppose the renaming screen was all mine but it just copies the undertale naming keyboard anyway...

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 17/05/2025

this is a fun menu I did recently! adding just a bit of motion can really make things feel so much more polished.

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 04/05/2025

is it just the screenshot or is that font being rendered at the wrong size? some of the strokes appear a little too thin, which suggests an incorrect size to me

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 27/04/2025

🎮 play or download the game here: berry-games.itch.io/scares 📋 see the changelog for the new update here: berry-games.itch.io/scares/devlo...

berry-games.itch.io

Scares on Schedule (Ludum Dare 57) by Berry Games

Scare villagers out of your haunted castle!

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 27/04/2025

we just released a post-jam update for scares on schedule, with (hopefully) large improvements to game balance! if you found the game too difficult initially, maybe give it another try with this update - we tried to take as much feedback as possible into account. #LDJam #indiedev #gamedev #pixelart

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Reposted by python-b5

Undertale Wildfire @undertalewildfire.com · 23/04/2025

As of 4/21/25, Snowdown's Forest has been fully mapped out! That's 2 out of 3 subareas tiled for the Snowdown Demo. We're now beginning work on the smallest of the 3 - The Village. COOL!!!

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 19/04/2025

that's the case for most 2D game renderers in my experience - it would feel weird to me if an engine _didn't_ do that. it feels pretty natural when you're working with the screen directly, I think.

000

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 08/04/2025

awesome, I didn't know about that! will probably switch the web builds for this game to wasm at some point, then.

python-b5 @python-b5.com · 08/04/2025

can you use the opera gx export outside of gx.games? the whole opera gx integration thing is an obvious marketing ploy, and the games would obviously run in other browsers just fine, I'd assume

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python-b5 @python-b5.com · 08/04/2025

was very careful with this one to make sure the web build worked correctly. the html5 gamemaker export can be quite temperamental... (as seen by my last game drawing as mostly black in the browser due to some shader incompatibility)