Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 23/08/2026There were audio files that were too high fidelity for the purpose they provided. Many were compressed into MP3 with minimal loss in quality. One egregious instance was the sound for tailoring lasting 10 seconds and being a 10MB file. Files like this made up the bulk majority of the game's size. 000
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 23/08/2026I've just patched Synthaar to V0.4.1, which features a new grid, resolves an issue with burglars swarming your lot, and most notably reduces the game's file size to half without reducing any content. thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames #games #unity3d #videogamesthauxan-studios.itch.ioV0.4.1 - Better Grid & Far Less BurglarsThis is an update that was pushed a bit early due to the prolific attack of burglars that were occurring, and a bug that prevented your character from being woken up manually led to an unfortunate sce... 1193
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 13/08/2026Crafting Milestone: Complete! Synthaar hits v0.4.0, featuring experimentation, factories, & more! Check out the dev log discussing the new features & the next steps of development here! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #dev #devlog #indiedev #games #indiegames #solodev #sologamedevthauxan-studios.itch.ioDevlog 13 - Crafting Milestone: CompletedAt last, the crafting experience is complete in Synthaar, with every system related to it finished up with this newest update that marks another milestone finished. Crafting is but one way to earn a l... 1122
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 08/08/2026It's #ScreenshotSaturday and today I've got a showcase of the two gambling options present in Synthaar that are coming in 0.4.0, Roulette & Blackjack! These allow you to play with in-game currency using interactive minigames! #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming #pixelart #lifesim 0142
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 01/08/2026Whew! For this week's #ScreenshotSaturday I have one of the largest models I've made for Synthaar to date; an oil refinery for your own backyard! #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming #pixelart #voxelart #lifesim #videogames 3234
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 25/07/2026Been doing more work on making 3 tiers for every utility building in Synthaar, and so for #ScreenshotSaturday today I thought I'd share some of that progress, featuring Wind & Solar, Batteries, as well as Water Pumps & Tanks #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming #pixelart #voxelart 0131
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 18/07/2026Hello there, #ScreenshotSaturday! Today I'm showing off the new Tier 2 and 3 resource harvesters, prepping to conquer the Crafting Milestone as I push toward Synthaar's 0.4.0! Resource collection is key to starting your own industry. #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming #pixelart 0224
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 01/07/2026Synthaar is now at v0.3.1! Every milestone inevitably needs the follow-up fixes and polishes. Turns out characters couldn't use a toilet if it had water. Oops. Also, the game has a loading bar when starting up! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames #games #unity3dthauxan-studios.itch.ioV0.3.1 - One Loading Bar & Two Dozen FixesHello there! Today's patch offers a bunch of fixes from the milestone update along with some quality of life changes and improvements to the UI. Most importantly though, due to the game lagging out fo... 1131
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 27/06/2026It's #ScreenshotSaturday and this week I've got another planet to show off; Cresros, a frigid and sandy world but far from uninhabitable, with new foliage and rock formations, as well as a new city style. #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming #pixelart 0173
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 25/06/2026Synthaar's Third Milestone is complete! Pushing the game to 0.3.0, featuring hardships like fires, burglars, dirt & cleaning, and repairing, as well as a new galaxy map and new species! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #dev #devlog #indiedev #games #indiegames #solodev #sologamedevthauxan-studios.itch.ioDevlog 12 - The Dirty, Broken, and Burning MilestoneAt last, I was getting a bit tired at looking at the '2' in the version number, and the third milestone has been accomplished! The Hardships milestone, featuring fires, object condition and repairing,... 0122
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 13/06/2026It's #ScreenshotSaturday! Today I've got a new UI element that shows info on a planet, and a preview of the world. You can also see the demographics of a planet's population. Later this will have even more info and data to review. #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming #pixelart #ui 0142
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 06/06/2026Last week for #ScreenshotSaturday I showed some pictures of the new species, but on a new planet. Today, I'm able to show off Sotolus, a new planet with pink trees and teal grass, with a new building style with onyx skyscrapers. #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming #pixelart 0214
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 03/06/2026You'll have a need for personal interaction with objects, people, family, etc. Balancing power & responsibility with personal needs & connections is a reflection of how real leaders have to balance those two sides, & the drama that can create. Synthaar is not just a life sim, but a Space Opera sim. 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 03/06/2026No idea, off the top of my head. I'll have to check! 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 03/06/2026The loading of assets happens once at the start of the game and remains on 1 thread. However, I declare the settings to use US English as an internal schema for any & all parsing of strings coming from the user's PC. If I didn't, it would default to the user's language settings which causes issues. 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 03/06/2026Well, unlike Spore, every layer of play remains in effect and important. It's a multilayer galactic simulation, whereas Spore focused only on the level of evolution you had currently achieved. The people living day-to-day are just as important to the simulation as the mayors, presidents and emperors 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 03/06/2026Fortunately, using Unity with C# let's me just configure string parsing and such to force one culture when reading. It takes care of any potential edge cases without needing to make sure every possible language is manually supported. That's work for the OS to figure out, not Synthaar =D 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 03/06/2026Well, when I say depth, it's more about how the game can scale from being characters in their home, to managing colonies as a leader, to spreading your influence and power on a galactic level. It should be do-able to show video of how this plays out by showing a slice of every "tier" of gameplay. 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026I think a lot of Life Sims out there go for a wide variety of interactions with characters and objects. While I do want to have a good set of interactions, the bigger focus with Synthaar is building up to do more grandiose things and affect the world as a whole with your legacy. 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026Partially string parsing and partially XML parsing, which I had to make sure every XML was the correct schema and force it to read the numbers and parse them in the language I expected. It was quite confusing for a while why the issue persisted but once it was fixed it was a huge relief. 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026Primarily bug fixes, and a few QoL features. The biggest bug found by someone was a discovery that in some languages that use a comma instead of a period for decimal numbers was causing the math in the game to go haywire. This was partially a side effect of how the game loads assets for moddability. 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026I believe so! A lot of the basic features of a Life Sim are present, from making money, friends, and the building system is pretty fleshed out. The only things not present right now are some of the higher concept stuff you might get into in mid to late game, like governing and entrepreneurship. 100
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026Reminds me of that traumatizing scene in RoboCop 2 where one of the prototypes rips his own head off. 120
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026@yesboxstudios.bsky.social Metropolis 1998 is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time and I cannot wait to play the full game when it comes out. I am personally in awe of how smooth it runs even with so much going on. This is exactly the kind of SimCity successor I've been waiting for. 010
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026A lot of the work has been building the underlying framework for the simulation, but I have a strong vision of all the features the game needs and have it locked down to prevent overscope. However, I always look forward to more feedback to refine & polish that vision to make it the best it can be. 100
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026I had a very basic version of the core loop functioning before going EA on Itch two years ago. I've not had much exposure, but the few who have played have been invaluable help. Since then, I've been adding more and more. I intend to have every major point of gameplay implemented before EA on Steam. 200
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026I've prioritized planet designs low primarily because they're a bit easy to make, but also because I want to spend time fleshing out features & gameplay. The most effort in designing planets comes from modeling new props like rocks and trees, but a lot can be reused with procedural color swapping. 100
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 02/06/2026A bit of both! The planets can be procedural but also hand crafted. The lots where you can build on are procedural, each has their own biome. The galaxy map is placed by hand, as well as the governments, naming, etc. Most of the effort from me comes from designing planets and building pre-made lots. 010
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 01/06/2026The plan has been ~75 planets since the start, and with a mixture of handcrafting + procedural generation I've got them mapped out. The upcoming patch will have 6 planets fully visitable, but with every update I'll add a bit more to that until they are all visitable. I have tools to make it easy. 010
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 01/06/2026It's time for a progress report, and I've written a dev log for Synthaar about what has been added, what will be added, and the next steps of the journey. Check out the new galaxy map! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #dev #devlog #indiedev #games #indiegames #solodev #sologamedevthauxan-studios.itch.ioDevlog 11 - Progress ReportHello there! It's been some time since the last update to Synthaar, and the reason for that has been my desire to try and finally push into the next milestone and create the cascading effect of having... 2163
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 31/05/2026It's #ScreenshotSaturday and for today, Synthaar has quite a few new aliens on the way to play! From avians to fish, from big lizards to Human offshoots, Synthaar's galaxy has never been so diverse! #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming #pixelart 0194
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 07/02/2026I want to give a shoutout to @polytoots.bsky.social for their amazing Jet Engine VFX Shader tutorial with Amplify to create this beautiful thruster effect that I've used for the ships in Synthaar. I recommend checking out their YouTube channel! #gameart #gamedev #indiedev 0132
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 07/02/2026For today's #ScreenshotSaturday I want to introduce Synthaar's very first Starship! This will be the first of many, and is a first step in exploring the galaxy. This ship is a small one-seater starfighter. #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming 093
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 31/01/2026Good Morning and Happy #ScreenshotSaturday! Today I've got a preview of the Emblem Creator in Synthaar, where you will be able to create emblems for your legacy, as well as any governments you might one day take over! #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming 0173
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 24/01/2026Hello everyone! I've got something cool for today's #ScreenshotSaturday! I've been working on expanding and fleshing out the galaxy, and improving the galaxy map in Synthaar. This is showing the territory maps as colored regions. #gameart #gamedev #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming 092
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 10/01/2026Starting off this year with a new patch that fixes some issues revolving around task cancelling, some quality of life updates, and reduced save game sizes! Check out Synthaar V0.2.8! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames #games #videogames #patch #update #unity3dthauxan-studios.itch.ioV0.2.8 - Fixed Tasks & Quality of Life AdditionsHello there! This patch comes today to address an issue with tasks getting stuck in a never-ending loop if you cancel them, as well as some new options to set a custom resolution and more. This update... 072
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 04/01/2026I've made a guide on the various commands available in Synthaar, for the use of cheating or testing. As I add more commands through development, I'll update this post. If you have an idea for a good command, let me know! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #lifesim #indiedev #gamesthauxan-studios.itch.ioCheats & Debug CommandsHello! In this post, I'll be going over the currently available cheats and debug commands available, for the sake of testing, having some wild fun, or whatever you might need. As of this writing, this... 082
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 31/12/2025I've written a Dev log on my progress thus far, and how I am going to be reorganizing my Dev plan and roadmap. Here's to a productive 2026 for Synthaar! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #devlog #indiedev #indiegames #gamedev #itchio #videogames #games #lifesim #simulation #indiegamedevthauxan-studios.itch.ioDevlog 10 - Reorganizing DevelopmentHello! As the year 2025 concludes, I wanted to write this Dev log reviewing the development thus far and some changes I've made to the roadmap and the organization of Synthaar's development as we marc... 0113
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 23/12/2025Introducing version 0.2.7! - Memory Leak Fix & New Objects! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames #games #videogames #patch #indiegamedev #update #unity3dthauxan-studios.itch.ioV0.2.7 - Memory Leak Fix & New ObjectsHello there and Happy Holidays! This update comes to patch a very nasty memory leak issue that was discovered during playtesting, while also sharing some new items that have been made for the game sin... 094
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 27/10/2025Synthaar is 50% off for Itch's Halloween Sale! Happy Halloween! (The best holiday) itch.io/s/164412/hal...itch.ioSynthaar | Halloween Sale 2025 by Thauxan StudiosA sale by Thauxan Studios, 50% off Synthaar 020
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 06/10/2025Introducing V0.2.6 for Synthaar! This is a big polishing update, which intended to have more, but it was critical to get the Unity Security Update published ASAP. Enjoy! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames #games #videogames #patch #indiegamedev #update #unity3dthauxan-studios.itch.ioV0.2.6 - Unity Security Update, Polishing, & MoreThis update is a big one, mostly focusing on polishing the game and eliminating a lot of the tech debt I've accumulated through development. Though even with that said, I had a few more things planned... 0164
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 04/10/2025Maybe I'm a bit dumb but it was rather confusing trying to figure out how to update Unity to patch out the security issue. It's a shame that the Unity Hub seemingly doesn't have a feature to automatically recommend the best new version and download it automatically. #gamedev #unity3d #unity 061
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 03/10/2025Had an amusing bug in Synthaar where if your character was unemployed, and you met another character who was unemployed, then it registered you both as coworkers. I guess that's... technically true? Co..unworkers? #gamedev 081
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 29/09/2025I'm so glad you're back to making content. Your tutorials were a significant help in learning Amplify Shader and pulling off some cool tricks that I've put to good use. I had just been thinking about getting better with Blender, and I look forward to following your new tutorials! 110
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 25/08/2025Synthaar has been updated to V0.2.5! In this update, previews for crafting and governments make their debut, as well as two new species, keybinding, and bug fixes! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames #games #videogames #patch #indiegamedev #updatethauxan-studios.itch.ioV0.2.5 - Crafting, Governments, and New Species!This update for Synthaar brings in quite a few big features, from crafting, to governments, and new species to join the galaxy! Crafting and Governments can be considered a preview of what is to come.... 1124
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 12/08/2025Check out the Dev log I've written on Synthaar's crafting system! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #devlog #crafting #indiedev #indiegames #gamedev #itchio #videogames #games #lifesim #simulationthauxan-studios.itch.ioDevlog 9 - The Crafting SystemFor today's Dev log, I'll be talking about the crafting system in Synthaar. Crafting is a critical part of getting your foot in the door in the trade business within the galaxy. Most items that your c... 0104
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 01/06/2025Synthaar has been updated to V0.2.4! This update features a fair few fixes and an overhaul to eating and meal prep. We're also getting closer to finishing this next milestone! thauxan-studios.itch.io/synthaar/dev... #gamedev #indiedev #indiegames #games #videogames #patch #indiegamedev #updatethauxan-studios.itch.ioV0.2.4 - Cooking & Eating ImprovementsThis update brings a variety of fixes, objects, and an overhaul of cooking in the game. There's been a bit of a delay between this update and the last one, with a lot of work going into setting up fou... 082
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 31/05/2025Good morning, #ScreenshotSaturday! I've been working on overhauling eating and meal prep in Synthaar, and I finally have the characters put their meals on the table, and show their progress on finishing their meals! #gameart #gamedev #art #dev #indiegames #indiedev #gaming #pixelart #voxelart 0143
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 24/05/2025Thank you! I try to aim for a consistent pixel density across all textures in the game so everything lines up. 000
Borrie BoBaka | Synthaar @thauxanstudios.com · 24/05/2025Hurray, it's #ScreenshotSaturday! For this week, I've finally implemented corner pieces for counters, that will auto-convert when it detects a corner. I'm really happy to finally have this done! #gameart #gamedev #art #dev #indiegames #indiedev #indiegamedev #gaming #pixelart #voxelart #ui 1236