Game Dev for Real People – Tools, Code and Stories from Small Teams
At some point in every game dev’s journey, you bump into Entity–Component–System (ECS). People say things like “it’s more scalable”, “it’s how AAA does it”, or “you’ll never ship a big game without it.” Then you look at examples and see walls of data structs, bitmasks and cache diagrams, and quietly go back to your PlayerCont... The post Entity–Component–System for Humans: When You Actually Need…
“Pipeline” sounds like something only big studios worry about, but if you’re making games as a solo developer or in a 2–3 person team, you already have one. It might be a loose collection of habits (“I throw art in this folder and hope for the best”), or a more deliberate flow (“design → blockout → implement → test → polish”), but it exists. The... The post Solo vs Small Team: What Changes in Your…
Most people in game development don’t have a problem starting projects. New prototypes are easy: open an engine, drop a character in a scene, add some movement, maybe a jump, maybe a gun, maybe a dash. For a few evenings, everything feels possible. Then the project quietly drifts into a folder called “old”, “archive” or “v2_final_final”, and you’re... The post What Makes a Small Game Actually…
Starting a game project is easy. Choosing one you’ll actually finish is much harder. Most developers have a graveyard of prototypes: platformers that felt great for two evenings, tactical RPGs that died on the first menu screen, roguelikes that never made it beyond “spawn, move, shoot”. Your first shipped game doesn’t need to be... The post How to Choose the First Game You’ll Really Ship appeared…
If you’re about to start your first 2D game and you’ve narrowed it down to Unity or Godot , you’re already in a good place. Both engines are capable, both can ship commercial games, and both have strong communities. The real question isn’t “which engine is objectively better?” but which one fits your first 2... The post Unity or Godot for Your First 2D Game? A Practical Comparison appeared first…
In a big studio, “asset pipeline” usually means complex tools, custom exporters, automated build farms and people with “technical artist” in their job title. In a small team, it means something much simpler and more brutal: how quickly can you turn raw art, audio and text into working, testable content in the game without losing your mind? The post Building a Lightweight Asset Pipeline for a Small…
Money is always tight in small-scale game development. The good news is that, in 2025, you can build and ship a complete game using nothing but free tools – and not just “barely usable” free tools, but genuinely powerful, production-ready ones. The challenge isn’t finding tools; it’s knowing which ones actually matter for a small team or solo devel... The post Essential Free Tools Every Indie…
Save and load systems aren’t glamorous, but they’re one of the few parts of your game that players absolutely notice when they fail. A crash, a corrupted save, or lost progress can undo hours of good will in a single moment. The good news: for most indie games, you don’t need a super complex solution – you need a simple, predictable, well-s... The post Saving and Loading: Simple, Robust Approaches…
Supporting mouse+keyboard, touch and gamepads in the same game can feel like trying to juggle three different control schemes while also designing UI and keeping everything responsive. It’s easy to end up with a tangle of if (isMobile) checks, duplicated code, and controls that “sort of” work everywhere but never feel great. The tri... The post Handling Input Across PC, Mobile and Gamepads Without…
If you mostly write gameplay code, tools, or backend systems, building UI can feel like stepping into enemy territory. Suddenly you’re worrying about fonts, layouts, margins and hover states instead of physics and AI. It’s tempting to throw together something that “works” and never look at it again. The problem is that players (and your teammate... The post Making Your First Usable UI as a…
Most games don’t feel flat because they’re missing advanced shaders or expensive art. They feel flat because the game barely reacts when the player does something. A jump happens, but the camera doesn’t move. A hit lands, but there’s no flash, no sound, no screen shake. Enemies die like mannequins falling over. The good news: you can fix a lot o... The post Cheap Ways to Make Your Game Feel…
You don’t need to be a designer to make your menus, HUD and in-game UI look clean. You just need a few simple rules you follow every time. Think of it like coding style: consistency and clarity matter more than fancy tricks. This guide is a small rulebook for non-artists. It focuses on three things you control in almost any engine or framework: ... The post Colour, Fonts and Layout: A Minimal…
Finishing a game is hard. Figuring out where to launch it can feel just as confusing: everyone talks about Steam wishlists, cozy itch jams and mobile riches, and you’re left wondering which door to open first. The good news: as an indie, you don’t have to get this “perfect”. You just need a store that matches your current game, your cur... The post Steam, itch.io or Mobile? Choosing the First…