- The author advocates for making games without large, all-encompassing engines like Unity or Unreal, citing concerns about unethical business practices, forced updates, and unnecessary features.

- They use C# with SDL3 for cross-platform compatibility (including consoles), FMOD for audio, and Dear ImGui for UI/editor tools, emphasizing the accessibility and performance benefits of modern C# and the availability of robust open-source libraries.

- The author develops on Linux, highlighting the increasing viability and benefits of open-source development environments for game creation.

- ARB assembly, predating GLSL, offers direct control over vertex and fragment shaders via textual instructions, providing an alternative to fixed-function pipelines.

- ARB assembly uses a unique syntax with 4-component vectors, source modifiers, and write-masks, requiring careful attention to instruction order and variable types.

- Despite being considered outdated, ARB assembly is still relevant due to its use in Nvidia's shader infrastructure and the potential for low-level hardware control, with Nvidia continuing to update the specifications.

- The author implemented A* pathfinding with space partitioning for a dynamic, destructible environment in their game, "Deep Space Exploitation."

- The pathfinding considers object proximity for more natural-looking paths and handles Asteroids-style world wrapping.

- To maintain performance, pathfinding calculations are split across multiple game ticks, and a caching system with periodic invalidation is used to manage real-time environment changes.

- Easel is a 2D game programming language and engine designed to make multiplayer game development as straightforward as single-player development by handling networking and synchronization automatically.

- It features a hierarchical, behavior-oriented, and reactive programming model intended to simplify complex game logic and make coding more intuitive for both beginners and experienced developers.

- Easel provides a complete ecosystem, including an online editor, hosting services, and built-in subsystems (graphics, audio, physics, UI), allowing users to create and deploy games without extensive setup.

- Vuntra City is a procedurally generated, immersive city exploration game where every building is enterable.

- The game focuses on exploration, social interaction, and uncovering secrets within the city, with minimal combat and no pressure.

- Available on Steam, with active community on Discord, Patreon, Youtube and X.

- Defold is a free and open-source game engine designed for high-performance, cross-platform 2D and 3D games.

- It offers a complete, out-of-the-box solution with a visual editor, code editor, and Lua scripting, requiring no initial setup.

- Defold supports publishing to major platforms including PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, Windows, Steam, HTML5, and Facebook.

- Lua's "everything is a table" approach can be both a blessing and a curse, offering flexibility but requiring careful attention to avoid unintended shared references.

- While Lua feels fast and performance wasn't a major issue, the lack of static typing led to runtime surprises, prompting consideration of TypeScript or Luau for future projects, though Defold's limited support is a concern.

- Defold's fast build times and the potential for C/C++ modules offer advantages, but a more module-based code organization and automated testing are desired for future Lua projects.

- Tomb Engine is an open-source engine for creating custom Tomb Raider games.

- Version 1.8.1 is available for download, along with associated tools and extensive documentation.

- The project is community-driven, non-commercial, and encourages contributions for study and development.

- The author is developing "Scaffold," a custom level editor within Unreal Engine for their game, Nightshift Galaxy, to improve productivity, create unique gameplay, and optimize performance.

- Scaffold uses a "convex by-construction" approach, inspired by games like Descent, where levels are built from linked convex shapes, enabling precomputed spatial partitioning for efficient collision and navigation.

- Initial tests show Scaffold's raytracing is significantly faster than Unreal's built-in collision, and it automatically generates navigation data, streamlining level design and AI pathfinding.

- This project is a work-in-progress decompilation and port of Sonic Advance 2, a Game Boy Advance game written in C.

- The decompilation is nearly complete (~80 non-matching functions), and the project can build playable ROMs and ports for various platforms (GBA, Linux/macOS/Windows via SDL).

- The project has extracted and documented game assets like songs, sprite animations, and tilemaps, and is actively seeking community contributions.

- EmptyEpsilon is an open-source spaceship bridge simulator inspired by Artemis, allowing for modification and extension.

- The game simulates bridge officer roles (Captain, Helms, Weapons, etc.) requiring 4-6 players to cooperate, and can be played on multiple devices (laptops, Android) connected via a network.

- It features mission scripting using Lua, enabling custom scenarios, dynamic events, and complex storylines, with resources and tutorials available for creating custom content.

- The author shares lessons learned while developing a diorama-based game, including issues with low-res tapestries, expensive Git hosting (solved by self-hosting), and the limitations of AI for animation tweening.

- Practical challenges arose from shooting dioramas in confined spaces, requiring creative solutions like cutting holes in walls, and crafting physical assets for the Steam page.

- The author emphasizes the importance of early Steam page creation and wishlisting for marketing, and expresses relief at avoiding the mistake of building a custom engine in Rust, opting for Godot instead.

- The sc2kfix project focuses on reverse engineering SimCity 2000 Special Edition for Windows to develop a bugfix and modding plugin that addresses game bugs and adds new features, with all work being open source.

- Led by @araxestroy, the project involves contributions from the GitHub and Simtropolis communities, targeting the 1996 Special Edition release for Windows 95.

- The project encourages contributions from those with reverse engineering and programming skills, emphasizing legal compliance by not endorsing piracy or uploading copyrighted materials.

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- The article discusses the creation of a JavaScript platform game called "Bouncing Beholder," which fits within 1024 bytes and won the JS1K competition in 2012. The game involves moving and jumping to collect coins while avoiding obstacles.

- The author describes the challenges and techniques used to compress the code, such as using abbreviation algorithms for method names and designing the program in a holistic, un-modular way to fit within the size constraints.

- The article also explains the game's mechanics, including the randomized height-map for the game world, ad-hoc physics for player movement, and collision detection, all achieved with minimal code due to the competition's strict size limitations.

- Tetris, a game created in 1985, remains popular across generations and platforms due to its simple yet engaging gameplay, inspiring developers to create new versions and challenges.

- Variations like Tetris 99 introduce competitive elements, while fan-made versions and games like Reaktor offer unique twists, such as altered gravity and new objectives.

- The enduring appeal of Tetris encourages continuous innovation, with developers exploring new angles and complexities to enhance the classic formula.

- The author chose to write the game "Iron Roads" in C for its portability, simplicity, and clarity in memory management and performance, despite the challenges compared to using C++ or other modern languages.

- The game is a 2D train simulation focused on optimizing complex networks, requiring efficient and portable code, which led to the use of C and Lua for different parts of the game.

- While C offered benefits like fast compilation and easy optimization, it also posed challenges such as difficult serialization and boilerplate code, leading the author to consider using modern languages that compile to C for future projects.

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- The article discusses the author's experience with Rust's borrow checker while developing a 2D shooter game, highlighting how it initially seemed restrictive but ultimately improved code structure and logic.

- The borrow checker prevented a potential logic bug by enforcing proper object ownership and separation of concerns, leading to a more robust game design where simultaneous player actions were handled correctly.

- The author concludes that Rust's borrow checker is not just a safety mechanism but also promotes sensible design principles, enhancing the overall quality of the code.

- The article discusses the challenges of mipmapping alpha-tested textures, particularly the issue of disappearing textures due to averaging alpha values during mipmap generation.

- Various methods to address this issue are explored, including alpha remapping techniques and using signed distance fields (SDFs) to preserve texture shape and detail.

- The author concludes that combining premultiplied color averaging with max-downsampled SDFs provides the best results for maintaining texture integrity while preventing aliasing.

- Tramway SDK is a lightweight game engine designed to run on older hardware without the heavy system requirements of mainstream engines, avoiding issues like e-waste and affordability.

- It simplifies game development by eliminating nodes and monolithic editors, allowing developers to subclass entities and use optional editors or hand-edit data files.

- The engine supports open-world RPG development with features like level streaming and a framework similar to RPG Maker, though it is still in early development with unstable APIs.

- The Lightstorm project is a minimalistic Ruby compiler designed to validate hypotheses about improving Ruby's performance by precompiling its bytecode into C, simplifying OS/CPU support and potentially enhancing execution speed.

- The project aims to support a cross-platform game engine by converting Ruby code into machine code, reducing load/stores and branches, and achieving significant performance improvements in benchmarks.

- The current implementation shows promising results with a ~30% reduction in execution time and a ~55% decrease in branch misses, although further development is needed to support more language features and optimize performance.

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- Caves of Qud is a science-fantasy roguelike game with procedurally generated maps, set to release on December 5th, 2024.

- The game's world map is extensive, measuring 240 zones wide by 75 zones tall, resulting in a 13.8 gigapixel surface map.

- The game features a vast number of underground levels, with a toggle available to view the first level, and scripts are provided for players to generate their own maps.

- The Sega Channel was a games-on-demand service for Sega Genesis, offering subscribers access to a rotating library of games via a cable connection from 1994 to 1998. The service included exclusive games and demos not available on physical cartridges.

- The process of delivering Sega Channel content involved creating a "game image" file, which was transmitted via satellite to cable subscribers. This file was created using specific software tools and contained games, manuals, and other content.

- A user discovered a Sega Channel game image CD from 1996, leading to a reverse engineering project to decode the file format. This involved understanding the creation process of the game image and using existing tools to extract and decompress the game data, revealing exclusive and prototype games.

- The article reflects on the development journey of WordHopper, a DOS game inspired by PopCap's Bookworm, highlighting the challenges and milestones from its inception in 2020 to its release in 2023.

- The author discusses the development process, including initial shelving, revisiting the project for a DOS game jam, and overcoming technical challenges like performance issues and a critical bug related to word validation.

- The retrospective concludes with plans for future updates, including a v2.10 release, soundtrack availability, and making the game open source, while also reflecting on the personal impact of the project, such as experiencing crunch time and balancing it with other commitments.

- WASM-4 is a fantasy console that allows users to build retro games using WebAssembly, supporting a minimalist design with a 160x160 pixel display and 4 colors.

- It is language agnostic, enabling game development in any language that compiles to WebAssembly, such as AssemblyScript, C/C++, Rust, and Go, and can run on various platforms, including low-powered microcontrollers.

- The platform supports fast online multiplayer with rollback netcode and is backed by a diverse community of creators.

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