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SL Black Studios

@slblackstudios.bsky.social
2.9K followers 663 following 395 posts

Canadian (Toronto —> Montreal) 🇨🇦🍁. Solo Indie Dev. (She/her). Poot Patrol, Borough & ShoNiMals in the works. Www.slblackstudios.com

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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 20h
Borough changes with the seasons. Plants change growth states, resident routines can shift, weather evolves, and holidays appear throughout the year. The goal: make your borough feel like a place you live in, not just a city you decorate. Which season would you play first?
Approved Borough season icon showcase with hand-drawn spring blossoms, summer sunflowers, autumn leaves, and winter snow imagery at multiple interface sizes.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Working on Borough’s UI. Even small things like weather icons use the game’s loose, hand-drawn visual language. I want the interface to feel like another part of the world rather than a clean digital layer sitting on top of it.
Hand-drawn Borough weather icon sheet showing clear, cloudy, foggy, rainy, snowy, stormy, and windy conditions at multiple interface sizes.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Meet Nimbus — better known as Nimby. He’s Borough’s last longtime resident, keeper of its history, and your loudest opponent whenever you try to rebuild the island. You can earn his trust over time. Historical preservation helps. So do pastries.
Character portrait sheet for Nimbus “Nimby,” Borough’s longtime resident and graveyard caretaker, showing multiple hand-drawn expressions and poses.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Welcome to Borough. A solo-developed life sim + city builder about rebuilding an abandoned island community. Plan it. Build it. Meet the neighbours. Navigate local politics. I’ll be sharing the development of Borough here as the island comes back to life.
The approved Borough wordmark, with cream hand-drawn letters, dark outlines, orange shadowing, and a hand-shaped opening in the first O.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ooo I’m starting to prototype… mostly grey boxes right now. I’ll post some visuals once it gets interesting.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Let’s see how I far I get with this first😅
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sorry I’ve been quiet the past little while… I’m trying to be a good dev and create a game design document.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Officially in Montreal! Just getting set up, but hopefully I can get back to game dev soon!!
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Thank you very much! On to a new exciting adventure!
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Haven’t been able to touch Borough a lot since we’re in the middle of getting to move to Montreal. Just a little street car action. #gaming #indiegames #gamedev
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Refining the borough map and defining those outside boundaries. #gaming #indiegames #gamedev
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Working on grid materials 📏 #gamedev #gaming #indiegames
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Looks so good! It’s amazing how far it’s come!!!
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Playing paralives right now is research right??? Yeah research…. #indiegaming
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Fans out on each individual. I have them set to different timers so they’re not doing it all at the same time. Nothing is set to query every tick.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Oh that’s a good idea! Thank you. I’ll give it a whirl and let you know how it works out.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
From a proposed spawn point from the EQS. That way it’s only tracing once and not competing with other Grass spawners.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Right now they do. I’m working in solutions to make sure they don’t. Maybe a limit on how many times they spawn? Still working through that problem.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Hey! I was thinking of creating a starter pack for indie city builder devs. Would anyone be interested in being added to it? #indiegamedev #citybuilder
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Then I have the child grasses do the same. Also I run a line trace to make sure they don’t spawn on existing Grass.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Honestly I’m running an EQS before spawning. The workflow as is follows: 1. Grow Plant Mesh until full size on timer 2. Run an EQS for the spawn point (it scores based on distance from it’s “mother” and other factors (buildings, roads, etc) 3. After full size have it spawn another ungrown Grass.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Grass growth! (obvs sped up) #grass #foliage #gaming #indiegamedev #gamedev #unrealengine #indiegame
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Grass growth! (obvs sped up) #grass #foliage #gaming #indiegamedev #gamedev #unrealengine #indiegame
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Thank you! 💕
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Hey devs! At what point in the game dev process would you set up your steam page? Poot Patrol was mobile only so this will be my first time releasing on Steam. #indiedev #steam #gamedev #marketing
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Figuring out tree growth mechanics. 🌳🌲🌴 #tree #gaming #indiegaming #indiedev #solodev #unrealengine
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
That part I figured out! You have to sign up for steam works which is the dev portal of steam.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Oh this is so informative! Lots of marketing videos I need to look at today. Thank you so much!
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Oh that’s good to know! Okay I’m a big nobody. So early would be better than latter! Thank you so much!
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Thank you! Going to start working on it! 💪
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Hey devs! At what point in the game dev process would you set up your steam page? Poot Patrol was mobile only so this will be my first time releasing on Steam. #indiedev #steam #gamedev #marketing
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
More dynamic environmental shader stuff. Being Canadian snow is a big part of life. ❄️ Made the landscape shader gain snow as it snows and melts when it warms up. #unrealengine #indiedev #gamedev #gaming
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Awww thank you so much! Going for the indie graphic novel vibe! Can’t wait to start sharing the other characters as well!
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
More dynamic environmental shader stuff. Being Canadian snow is a big part of life. ❄️ Made the landscape shader gain snow as it snows and melts when it warms up. #unrealengine #indiedev #gamedev #gaming
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Thank you for sharing!
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Finally something flashy I can show. Got my water shader with water reaction trails working. It uses canvas render targets to project a mask for the waves. #unrealengine #indiegamedev #gamedev #shaders
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Finally something flashy I can show. Got my water shader with water reaction trails working. It uses canvas render targets to project a mask for the waves. #unrealengine #indiegamedev #gamedev #shaders
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
I’ve been quietly been working on the core structure systems for Borough. Nothing is fancy yet, but I’ve been making good progress! Save system ✅ Time/Speed System ✅ Season System ✅ Weather System ✅ Build Tool ✅ Terrain Tool✅ Road Tool ✅ Destroy Tool ✅ Basic NPC Nav ✅ Scheduling ✅ #indiedev
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
I’ve been quietly been working on the core structure systems for Borough. Nothing is fancy yet, but I’ve been making good progress! Save system ✅ Time/Speed System ✅ Season System ✅ Weather System ✅ Build Tool ✅ Terrain Tool✅ Road Tool ✅ Destroy Tool ✅ Basic NPC Nav ✅ Scheduling ✅ #indiedev
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Working out the basics of the terrain system. 🪏 #unrealengine #indiedev #solodev
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Working on the building tool for Borough. Having some fun with the bugs. #indiegame #solodev #gamedev #unrealengine
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Researching UI for Borough today. Found this little gem of a website in my search. #indiedev #gamedev #indiegamedev www.gameuidatabase.com/index.php?&t...
gameuidatabase.com
Game UI Database
The ultimate tool for Game UI and Interface designers. Explore over 1,300 games and 55,000 UI screenshots. Browse and filter by category, animation, colour, material, layout, game genre, and more.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Dev life 💖 #familytime #babycoder
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dreamin' @dreaminerryday.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
cancel your adobe subs asap and use non adobe products if you haven't already
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Doing some art direction stuff today. Working out the swatch options for customization. Borough had a very distinct style so I’m selecting swatches that will fit the world. #indiegame #gamedev #indiegamedev #soloddev #swatch #colors
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Doing some art direction stuff today. Working out the swatch options for customization. Borough had a very distinct style so I’m selecting swatches that will fit the world. #indiegame #gamedev #indiegamedev #soloddev #swatch #colors
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
New Dev Log! I’ve been trying to find a way to marry traditional collage and drawing with new Ai tools to speed up work flows. I’ve been experimenting with Krita and feel like it is a happy medium. The process will change as Ai tech evolves but it’s a start. bit.ly/4b3Vawu
slblackstudios.com
Art Exploration & Tech Integration — SL Black Studios
A look at art style exploration AI work processes for Borough.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
New profile BG. Been working on style exploration for Borough. I think I have the artistic direction almost nailed down. 🤞 I’ll make a dev log post about the style direction exploration and process soonish? #indiegames #cozygames #gamedev #indiedev #krita
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
New Dev Log! I’ve been trying to find a way to marry traditional collage and drawing with new Ai tools to speed up work flows. I’ve been experimenting with Krita and feel like it is a happy medium. The process will change as Ai tech evolves but it’s a start. bit.ly/4b3Vawu
slblackstudios.com
Art Exploration & Tech Integration — SL Black Studios
A look at art style exploration AI work processes for Borough.
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SL Black Studios @slblackstudios.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
New profile BG. Been working on style exploration for Borough. I think I have the artistic direction almost nailed down. 🤞 I’ll make a dev log post about the style direction exploration and process soonish? #indiegames #cozygames #gamedev #indiedev #krita
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