GBGames 🍊

Hi! I encourage curiosity and support creativity through my #IndieGameDev company GBGames. - a very part-time #SoloDev - was full-time briefly before running out of money and going back on "corporate welfare" - slowly trying to get back to full-time - been blogging about the adventure since 2005.

The acid test for me is a simple one: Has my professional and/or creative life benefited in any material way from "AI," and very specifically generative "AI"? No, it hasn't. Has it been negatively impacted by the same? Yup, in a whole bunch of ways. My professional life is worse now for it.

Periodically I'd hear about successful-sounding #games that turned out to be financially not-successful because the projects took longer to finish than originally planned so the returns weren't enough to justify the expense. But I'm having a hard time finding specific examples. Anyone know of any?

I am reading Failure to Launch (finally at the top of my To Read pile) and found Bagels in Space by @jabbage.bsky.social to be delightfully illustrated. My favorite part is the moviegoer shushing the narrator.

When the commentators talk excitedly how a 10 goal #WorldCup match is "good football" makes it challenging to argue with non-fans that a 0-0 tie can also be good. Reminds me when MLS was new and kept hyping their strikers in ads. Great defending unfortunately doesn't highlight well, I guess.

Freshly Squeezed Post-mortem #2: Clown Alley Creator www.gbgames.com/2026/07/14/f... Lessons learned from making my family-friendly creativity tool about populating your own clown alley. #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

It's 2026. Tech I wish just worked by now: - when I boot up my computer, the windows that get reopened will appear on the same desktops they were last on - my external mic and headphones that I used in a Zoom call last time will not need me to reconfigure them again - printers

Make sure to leave milk & cookies out for Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum as they deliver the computer virus tonight.

Does anyone know what Dzeko said to Balogun after the red card was given?

What I love about the U.S. soccer team is exactly what MAGA hates. The team represents what has made America great and exceptional: that people of all backgrounds can come together, combine talents, and become stronger. E PLURIBUS UNUM. #WorldCup #USMNT

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: A Nice Font Brings Everything Together www.gbgames.com/2026/06/29/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

This is a really cool experiment in #GameDesign and I look forward to following its progress.

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: More Title Screen Updates www.gbgames.com/2026/06/23/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

I was looking up some fonts to use for my game project, and I used the text "New Game" as an example text, and now my mind can't help but see "New" as the weirdest, wrongest looking word. I'm constantly feeling like, "That can't be how it is spelled...Wait, is it even a word?" #GameDev #IndieDev

I am one of those people who have a bunch of browser windows open, each with dozens of tabs. For some reason, I just couldn't get myself to use bookmarks, despite the technology being around forever. But I did use them to store some links, organized by topic, too. And today they are all GONE. B-(

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: New Title Screen www.gbgames.com/2026/06/15/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

I Wish I Was More Excited about the #WorldCup www.gbgames.com/2026/06/11/i...

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: Clown Alley Creator SDL3 Update www.gbgames.com/2026/06/09/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: Finishing Toy Factory Fixer SDL3 Update www.gbgames.com/2026/06/02/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

The tech deities have blessed me. I only needed to reboot the printer to get it to actually print, even though it said it was connected and ready and my computer said the printer was connected and ready, so I didn't need to do a lot of other esoteric troubleshooting.

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: Toy Factory Fixer SDL3 Update Work www.gbgames.com/2026/05/18/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: iOS SDL3 Porting Struggles, Part 3 www.gbgames.com/2026/05/12/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

Is it bad/sad that I kinda miss Google+?

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: iOS SDL3 Porting Struggles, Part 2: www.gbgames.com/2026/05/04/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

BREAKING: If everything is breaking news or a big alert, then nothing is, right?

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: iOS SDL3 Porting Struggles www.gbgames.com/2026/04/28/f... #GameDev #SoloDev #IndieGameDev #PixelArt

Imagine an entire industry saying, "Yeah, I prefer renting to owning."

"Honey Bunches?" "of Oats." "....yeah, ok, ship it."

Tip: You don't have to explain everything in your game via tutorials. It's OK to have a player not understand something, then figure it out on their own, especially strategies. This is "play"

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: Mobile Ports Are Mobilizing www.gbgames.com/2026/04/20/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

Apologies for the radio silence (trying not to become homeless): Ludum Dare 59 *IS* coming up on April 17th weekend! Use invite code "FiveNine" if you need an account. Theme Suggestions are currently open! Slaughter will begin Tuesday. #LDJam #LD59

"But Gandalf, why not just blow the second warp whistle while we're in the Warp Zone? It would take us straight to Bowser's Castle. We wouldn't need to go through all of these other worlds!"

Freshly Squeezed Progress Report: A Mac Port, Finally www.gbgames.com/2026/04/14/f... #GameDev #IndieGameDev #SoloDev #PixelArt

I was today years old when I learned you can duck in the NES Punch-Out!! game.

It took awhile, but I finally finished creating the latest Windows, Mac, and Linux ports of Toytles: Leaf Raking, my leaf-raking business simulation strategy game. www.gbgames.com/toytles-leaf... #Game #IndieGame #SoloDev #GameDev #IndieGameDev

"April Fools!" yells Mission Control as Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen was left behind at the launch pad. "You guuuuys! You said I had a few minutes to use the bathroom!"

MOON LAUNCH! MOON LAUNCH! MOON LAUNCH!

Storm coming, central Iowans #iawx

So I'm trying to figure out how to get CMake to generate an Xcode project that embeds the custom-built SDL3 libraries I have, and in troubleshooting why it isn't working quite right, I find a forum thread on a similar topic...started by me in 2022. #GameDev #IndieDev #SoloDev

Anyone able to watch the #USMNT match on HBO Max? @ussoccer.com says it should be streaming, but I can't find it.

Well, I thought it was funny, but apparently my NASA friends and my game dev friends don't mix.

Don't mind me. Just playing Kerbal Space Program with the latest DLSS 5.