Mini devlog: Transparent menus in Unto Deepest Depths
Transparent menus on things like OptionButtons are not exactly as straightforward as you would expect, so here’s a look at how I fixed it for Unto Deepest De...
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2024
Mini devlog: Unit selection in Unto Deepest Depths
Here’s a brief answer to a viewer question concerning unit selection and movement in Unto Deepest Depths.
The Unto Deepest Depths demo is now available!
The demo is now available for Unto Deepest Depths! Battle through the first of five biomes, prepare for the challenging boss that awaits you at the end, and ...
I’ve open sourced some code from Unto Deepest Depths
After a bit of prodding, I took some time to find an easy way for me to help demonstrate my typical turn-based setup. I found some early prototype code for U...
Programming a tactical strategy game in Godot 4 - A devlog
Let’s look at how my latest strategy game, Unto Deepest Depths, is designed. I’ll break down the application architecture, how I manage turn order, and show ...
Unto Deepest Depths - Announcement
Today, I’m pleased to announce my new game, Unto Deepest Depths! A dark fantasy strategy game with a simple, but challenging premise. Get the details within!
Ten small ways to make your life easier in GDScript
Here’s a collection of miscellaneous tips when working with GDScript to make your life easier. Improve working with the terminal, organizing your code, and l...
Game development in the dying days of Flash
It’s been ten years since my first “commercial” game project, so let’s take a look back at what game development was like in 2014. Flash was on the way out, ...
Come join the Discord!
Come hang out, get tech support, or tell me why I’m wrong.
Making a golfing roguelike in one week
Here’s a look at my entry for The 7DRL Challenge, Par for the Corpse. A mashup of golf game and roguelike, I’ll talk about how the levels are generated and s...
Making a dev console in Godot - A devlog
Here’s a look at how I implemented a simple dev console in my game to speed up development. The core functionality is driven by Godot’s Expression class, but...
2023
Advanced state machine techniques in Godot 4
Here’s a look at some more advanced techniques you can implement in your state machine when you need something a bit more complex than the starter state mach...
Starter state machines in Godot 4
Here’s an updated look at how I like to do state machines in Godot 4. I’m going to go over some simpler, starter techniques today, and in the next post I’ll ...
Making tactical units - A devlog
We’ve looked at the high-level design of the game, now let’s talk about how the data behind units is structured, how artwork is implemented, and how I’m hand...
Developing a tactics engine in Godot - A devlog
In this devlog of sorts, we’ll look at how I’m structuring the game engine for my future tactics game using Godot. Topics include level structure, unit struc...
Making an atmospheric incremental game in Godot
For the 57th Godot Wild Jam, I made Flame Forged, an incremental game with a heavy emphasis on lore and atmosphere. Here’s a few interesting things about its...
Bite-Sized Godot: Audio volume sliders
Setting up volume sliders in Godot quick and simple. Here’s how to do it, and how to divide your audio into buses for a better user experience.
An introduction to Utility AI
Utility AI is a common technique for creating effective AI across a variety of genres. By turning data about the current game state into numbers, we can allo...
5 more changes to GDScript in Godot 4 you’ll want to know about
From signal and tween updates, to debugging help, here’s another grab bag overview of some changes to GDScript in Godot 4 that you may want to know about.
Bite-Sized Godot: Lambda functions
Lambda functions are small, anonymous functions that can be declared inline rather than via full function declaration. Let’s take a quick look at how to writ...
A few common code smells to be aware of and how to fix them
Code smells are things in a codebase that imply something may be off with how it has been designed. Here’s a few common ones you may find in your own codebas...
2022
Bite-Sized Godot: Easier pathfinding with AStarGrid2D
New to Godot 4, the AStarGrid2D class makes solving grid-based layouts a lot easier than the existing AStar2D class while also adding some performance improv...
An introduction to graph rewriting for procedural content generation
Graph rewriting is a popular area of study for procedural content generation, and in this post I’m going to give you a quick introduction to the concepts inv...
8 changes to GDScript in Godot 4 you’ll want to know about
As I’m going through my Godot content that needs updating, I’ve come across a number of small changes to GDScript 2, which I’ve decided to capture in this po...
Bite-Sized Godot: Setters and getters in Godot 4 / GDScript 2
Setter and getter functions in Godot 4 have received a nice overhaul. Let’s take a look at what’s new.
Godot 4 beta + site update
A quick update on this site and the Godot 4 beta.
Tips for writing more flexible game code
These tips will help you organize your code and write it so that it is modular, flexible, and easy to change.
Making a 3D tactics game in two weeks
Let’s take a deep dive into my entry for Mech Jam III, the elemental tactics game Elemechs. Artwork, system design, architecture, and sound will all be cover...
Game announcement: Kaiju Klash
The store page for my third commercial game, and second Steam release, is now up!
Bite-Sized Godot: Five more small GDScript tips
Let’s take a moment to look at a few more small, but helpful, tips for working with GDScript.
How to use the microphone in Godot
Using the microphone is fairly straightforward in Godot, though you might not realize it since the information you need is scattered all over the web. This i...
5 tips for better platformer controls
Making a good, satisfying platformer is a lot harder and more involved than throwing a physics body on top of a tilemap and calling it a day, so here’s a few...
Bite-sized Godot: Scene transition effects
Let’s look at how we can use animations, shaders, and other effects to make better scene transitions in Godot.
How to properly communicate between game objects with the observer pattern
The observer pattern is everywhere, and with good reason. It makes it easy to let different game objects communicate with one another without coupling your e...
Bite-sized Godot: The OS Class
Godot’s OS class offers you direct communication with the user’s operating system, providing a lot of convenience for things like determining the screen reso...
11 tips for writing cleaner code
These principles, applicable to any type of software developer, will help you write code that is more readable and more maintainable.
Bite-Sized Godot: Pixel-perfect collision polygons on sprites
Whether you want accurate collision bodies or pixel-perfect mouse detection on a Sprite, this post is for you. Let’s look at our options using both the edito...
Bite-Sized Godot: Editor settings for a better coding experience
Here’s a handful of settings you’ll want to configure to get the most out of coding with Godot’s built-in editor.
Generative grammars as a form of procedural content generation
While typically overshadowed in the gamedev world for their two-dimensional cousin, generative grammars should still have a place in your procedural toolbox,...
Bite-sized Godot: Better screen shake
Using Godot’s built-in OpenSimplexNoise class, we use create smooth, continuous noise to control our camera. Appropriate for both intense screen shaking and ...
Building a more advanced state machine in Godot
We’ve seen how to implement a basic state machine, now let’s look at how hierarchical state machines and dependency injection can help us build it out further.
Making a customizable turn-based combat game in two weeks
A few takeaways from my latest game, Kaiju Klash, which was made in two weeks for the Kaiju Jam.
Using Line2D nodes to create physics bodies in Godot
Combining the Line2D node with the Geometry class, we can let players draw their own physics objects in a game.
Bite-Sized Godot: Five small GDScript tips
Let’s take a moment to look at some small, but helpful, tips for working with GDScript.
Bite-Sized Godot: Setters and getters in GDScript using setget
Using setget, we can write custom logic to run when a variable is set or read.
2021
An introduction to procedural lock and key dungeon generation
While primarily used for Zelda-like dungeons, this technique can be used to generate custom worlds, branching dialog, and more.
Bite-Sized Godot: Callbacks and function references with FuncRef
While functions are not first-class objects in Godot, FuncRefs can help replace some of that missing functionality.
Implementing state machines and the state pattern in Godot
In this follow-up post, we’ll look at how we can take the theory we discussed previously and apply it to Godot.
An introduction to state machines and the state pattern
State machines make it easy to manage the state of your objects and help you write cleaner, more maintainable, and easily expandable code.
Bite-Sized Godot: Using class_name to enable static typing
This keyword allows for static typing of custom classes without having to litter preload commands everywhere.
Using Polygon2D nodes to create physics bodies in Godot
The Polygon2D node can be a great way to create and draw custom physics objects in Godot.
An experiment in animating a hardware cursor in Godot
It’s not perfect, but it could work for simple games.
Bite-Sized Godot: Custom cursors
Let’s look at different ways of implementing custom cursors in Godot.
Configuring your Godot project for pixel art
You can have your Godot game looking pixel perfect in just a few steps.
Bite-Sized Godot: Using spritesheets with 2D particles
Using spritesheets with particles is easy, but not overly obvious.
Loopable Soundtracks 1
A small collection of songs I’ve done for game jams.