Summary 2024

As a traditional annual post summarizing my indie activities, I wrote 12 paragraphs about the main game projects I worked on this year.

Ludum Dares 55 & 56

In 2024, there were two regular (versus the abnormal three last year) LD jams. Of course, as always, I participated solo in the two-day Compo category. The themes were "Summoning" and "Tiny Creatures" respectively, I released two games.

On the first topic I made a gloomy game called HTON, which I tried to design in the style of the Playdate game console (a black and white monochrome display with a resolution of 400x240). I wrote about the game and its creation in more detail in a separate post-mortem.

For the second jam I made a funny game GO BLO, where you need to control a crowd of little people and solve simple puzzles. Somehow the game gained some popularity and still brings positive feedback. I wrote about the development and results in more detail in the tg-channel. There is a possibility that I will try to port the game to mobile phones.

Mobile releases

It's funny that the year started and ended with the same thing - developing an arena mode for last year's jam game PUNCH. Initially, I made a separate version for two players for desktops, and only later did I start porting the game to mobile devices. Having started with a port of the original game for touchscreen control on phones, I was eventually able to release several updates, including new modes and other improvements.

Also this year I was finally able to release an early version of the new pocket HOBO. The original game had its 10th anniversary this year, which I talked about in more detail in the article about this project, which is important to me. I hope that the game still has potential and I really want to check it out.

As a result, the activity of developing their mobile games has been resurrected after a long pause caused by various factors. I refreshed the account a little, changing the icon and renaming it to octa studio, along with transferring the old domain octahedronstudios.com to a new hosting. All links to new mobile projects, by the way, can be found there.

Other projects

Among new projects, I tried to make a tiled card roguelike. The concept turned out to be raw and seriously lacks usability, so I never released it fully. The idea itself has been in my head for a long time, I even tried to do something similar once on Flash, there is definitely something good in the idea. Perhaps I will return to development later with new thoughts.

I still haven't come up with a name for the game.

I started making a major update and rethinking of MARK-I, my only project available on Steam so far. If I still have the desire, I want to release a procedural roguelike mode codenamed M-I:R. I have an idea to make a soft reboot of the project in order to cover a larger audience.

The long-standing game WORLDS has not received an update for almost 3 years and may seem completely abandoned. However, the project is sluggishly picked around periodically, experimenting with different directions. In general, the general crisis is caused by not the most convenient architecture and various game design issues.

* * *

The further indie direction is vague and unclear. Although there are some plans for current games, I am always open to new ideas and projects. Plus there are other unmentioned projects, and the new channel huindie, which I started mostly for friends, gives me the opportunity to speak out and free my head for new thoughts.

In the next 2025, I wish everyone interesting projects and personal success. Please do not forget that first of all you need to become better than yourself in the past, and not someone else. And if you compare yourself with someone, then with yourself in the past, to feel personal progress. And turn the voice of criticism in your head into a friend who is trying to help. Good luck to everyone!

HTON Post-mortem

This spring Ludum Dare 55 happened. The theme was "Summoning" and I participated Compo as usual. The final game is narrative minimalistic novel with loops called HTON.

I knew that summoning diabolic things will be major usage of theme but decided to make a twist that player plays as ancient entity that is waking up from eternal dream to fulfil someone wishes. Originally I wanted to make novel/roguelike but in the end the game become too linear.

The title is based derivative of Russian's 'хтонь' that means much more then just evil spirit but emotional depressed feeling too. Also sounds like lovecraftian name that is suits for the game's need where you play as an ancient god. Not just god but dark entity that summoned by weak people. They offer sacrifices to you, one by one, and you can accept or not.

Summoning my shit#ludumdare #indiedev pic.twitter.com/8TH6EAXkJE

— Denis Kazantsev 🌳 (@JokerDen) April 14, 2024

Gameplay is simplistic too. Originally was built around idea of unusual text-based roguelike but finished just simple dialogue tree of few branching. One answer always leads to the beginning, the void. And other answer moves you further on a global purpose to eliminate eveything.

Game contains few violent scenes and whole theme is dark. It was just my associations to the LD theme and also crossed with some back-time near depression condition. The game didn't ended well by player's choices, not only because of topic but also poor usability and primitive gameplay. Unfortunately my idea of unwrapping mystery is not very readable but I like that still game have kind of emotion inside.

Visuals are built around the idea to imitate Playdate game console. It was like a personal challenge to design the game within poor boundaries. The console screen resolution is just 400x240 pixels and each pixel could be just black or white.

In the end I'm having one more game on my page and I'm not ashamed of it. Different problems that made a game not reached by the players are only motivate more to become better game developer. Soon next Ludum Dare is coming and I hope I will participate again. Have a nice day everyone!

PUNCH Universe

A lot of thoughts I have about PUNCH. The game I made for Ludum Dare 54 (was mentioned at last summary article) and got really good results.

Some people was keeping telling me that I need to do that and that about the game. And everything was accumulating in my head for a while for bigger picture.

In the end maybe this article would help to relieve and never come back to that game – as it usually working with plans when you sharing it and never complete because you are getting people reactions already and no need to finish project for that.

The picture starts giving me a tic

PUNCH should become universal game, consisting of different game modes. Ludum Dare original simple physics and controls should become a pillar, game law, rule if you want. It should be customizable, platform independent, who knows maybe even open-sourced in the end.

To find the game modes or other values, where I should to put my efforts, is one of the most difficult tasks I have. «Limited Resources» is my personal ludum dare theme for whole life. Work smart, not hard, people saying. Anyway I'm trying just work, my minimal barrier. Low-key it called I think.

For now, the most clearest vision for nearest future I have, is having multiple modes, at least 3-in-1:

• original linear levels from compo version, it is already contains entities like bosses, bonus levels and learning curve;
• PvP arena, that is already released on itch.io and standalone downloadable/web version;
• infinite rogue-like or "survio" game mode, some prototyping already started on that direction.

And that's it, in short. Thank you for reading.

Well, after sharing all this thoughts I'm already feeling some relieve. I also felt relieve few days ago when I finally published PUNCH on GooglePlay that is kind of proof of concept for mobile version of the game that challenged some UX. And I was mentioning platform independence – ideally PUNCH mega app should be almost equally playable on mobile, desktop and console with it all game modes... Oh, my wet dreams.

Also coming with cool or fun titles is such a mind gum. You already saw PUNCH ARENA for PvP version. And so on: PUNCH MOBILE, PUNCH X, SECOND PUNCH, PUNCH BALLS etc.

PUNCH 2/II, when?

Summary 2023

Despite my moderate involvement in indie development, this year I mainly worked on projects that are still far from release. Some of them, as always, can be seen on X where I sometimes post videos and screenshots. I hope to be able to talk more about these games in the future.

However, this year we managed to make 3 releases for all three Ludum Dare events taking place this year.

Ludum Dare 52 theme «Harvest» – In The Rye

I already talked about this release in a separate post at the beginning of this year. I can only add that this project, made mostly in a frenzy, remains one of the best in recent times, receiving a lot of praise from players.

I really, really want to repeat the success by doing something narrative-trash. Unfortunately, I still can’t find a place for such projects – neither among the players, nor among my other ideas. Maybe just doing something from the heart will work out, but I don’t feel the energy from space for it yet.

Ludum Dare 53 theme «Delivery» – Lo-Fi Pizza Delivery Guy During Armageddon Trying To Earn $10000 To Buy A Car

First of all, regarding the name: I tried to make the longest possible name that would fit the rules of LD and itch. And practically the only storytelling in this game. And a great reason to order pizza during the jam.

Despite the lack of strength and motivation, I managed to make a small game in which I was able to successfully test a couple of hypotheses and make a few mistakes.

The most important thing is that we managed to achieve a sense of dynamics from a turn-based game to a rhythm game through music. The beat, by the way, was simply generated in GarageBand by the Drummer tool. I also experimented with rendering, creating pixel art from 3D through a low-resolution camera. I screwed up a lot with the UX, especially at the end of the game, where many players simply didn’t realize how the menu worked. On a funny note: a small bug in the game, when some Armageddon levels occur immediately after the previous one, creates one of the most interesting moments in the game.

The best compliment the game has received is comparison to the game Into The Breach, which I am a fan of.

Ludum Dare 54 theme «Limited Space» – PUNCH

The best actual result was shown by the last release of this year, which received the award for #1 in the Fun category, as well as the top 10 Overall among a couple of thousand participants.

I have a mixed opinion about this game: I can't say that I put a lot of effort into it, but I do like some aspects of it. The most important thing is the recognition of the audience. The game still gets hundreds of views every day on itch.

There are currently a couple of ideas in work for further development of this project. It is possible that I will be able to release something next year. I don’t want to make any promises, because I know from experience that time can significantly change priorities.

* * *

Otherwise, I’m trying to maintain my indie spirit despite the big changes in my life this year. The last couple of years have not been the easiest, but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I really want to fucking good release in 2024, which is what I wish for everyone. Happy New Year, good luck to everyone!

In The Post-mortem

The year began with a visit to Georgia, where I met my old friends from the gamedev community. The end of the week-long trip was marked by participation in Ludum Dare. The theme was "Harvest", we participated separately in the Compo category. I got a nice game called "In The Rye". There will be spoilers ahead, so I strongly recommend that you play the game: it will take about 10 minutes, strictly 18+, link to itchio (play on the web from a computer browser).

Idea

After the topic was voiced, the word "ergot" quickly popped into my head - a fungus that grows on crops, and even in ancient times caused hallucinations and other unhealthy effects to people who ate it. Along the chain, images of a story about a peasant family began to appear in my head, where the father of the family is forced to commit ignoble deeds - he kills his pregnant wife, copulates with a cow, and also observes the scene with his son. At the end of this post, I will touch on the topic of how such topics were chosen. In my head, it was more like a theatrical performance in the genre of psychological body horror. The scene with the cow on the tree, remembered by many, appeared quite spontaneously, by the way.

Style

When I already had an approximate scope of the project in my head, I quickly decided on the visual style and aesthetics. I really wanted to make a kind of homage to the era of flash games, when adult themes and black humor were very common. I originally wanted to draw sloppy graphics in flash itself, but due to difficulties in importing, I decided to draw everything in Gimp, deliberately increasing the pixels. I recorded all the sounds through the laptop microphone. Simple melodies made in GarageBand and I tried to diversify the pitch changes in different game situations, immersing the player even more into the atmosphere of a hallucinogenic thriller. In my opinion, the visual and sound design turned out to be very complete and consistent, which is rarely possible within a 48-hour jam.

Results

Personally, I was very pleased with the result. By sending the game to several twitch streamers, I got the reaction that I roughly counted on: laughter, surprise, wtf-moments, shock, and "aha!" moment in the end. But by creating a game with such controversy themes, I was prepared for the fact that it could scare many people and cause real disgust. However, this turned out to be the case: despite the general lack of polish of the game and the fact that the game as a whole is addictive to the very end, the final rating of voting on LD turned out to be very low; a negative emotional response from just a few people can significantly ruin the final grade. Emotionally, it upset me a little, but I knew where I was going. I'm much more satisfied with this game than my previous LD games, which received significantly higher ratings.

Conclusion

Even the day before, before the topic was known, I tried to decide for myself in which direction to go with the game:

Quite consciously, having chosen a disregard for ethics and reputation, I made the game not for high ratings, but contrary to the normality that has become established today, to indulge in a bygone era. When the flash died, all the games that had unprecedented freedom and emancipation in the choice of topics died with him. The first few years of my independent career before I switched to Unity are gone too. And this game for LD will remain for me a reminder of all this.

Summary 2022

This year is not very pleasant to do summary, but I want to keep annual tradition. And I already did some semi-summary in the middle of the year so this should be easier.

Indie projects are still only my hobby that I do during my free time aside from my primary game dev job. But this year broke my rhythm: it hard to do hobby during the dark times when your head is occupied with searching for security for yourself and your family... I've changed my job and moved to another country.

Projects that I developed a lot, but still far from release:

• WORLDS, more details will be below
• a logic game about blocks in pseudo-soviet style (working title is 'blockage')
• some kind of successor of COLORUS (my old game), casual metroidvania
• new shoot'em'up with top view
• ressurection of HOBO

If 2023 will be merciful, I want to release or move into active production phase at least one project from the list (or new project may be). This is of course not mandatory, especially if I keep spending time to WORLDS.

Speaking of WORLDS, I am already doing it more than a year. But it's true only for the itch.io project. In fact idea of this project came to my head more than a decade ago. During years concept transformed a lot and continue changing into something that I like to spend my resources for. A lot of the components are still missing, it is early to play and understand it. I want to believe that after 3-4 updates base of the game will be solid, fan will be visible and systems will "click" one with another. I have possible plans for development for dozens of future updates if the entropy of projects will not destroy me completely.

But I need to accept that this project and another are in some sort of development hell. Almost every mentioned projects are stuck in some kind of design problem that I don't know how to solve yet. No worries, it will be solved.

The main value for me is still not result, but the regularity of my indie time. Be the samurai without the target, but with the path. Thanks for reading, I wish you successes in the future year.

Year Progress ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░ 50%

 Just to reduce dept for this year summary, I decided to give a quick overview to my indie progress 2022.

As I planned, WORLDS game (still working title) got an update in January. I've focused on interactions with bandits (that can ambush you): now you can try to negotiate them. Besides that map roads are updated, used Poission-Disc algorithm to fill map with locations and A* algorithm based on nodes to path-find best routes. More changes are listed at itch.io update page. The game is still raw in fact and I can't recommend you to try it. I already have big plans for next updates and it is what I passioned about for the now. 

Then I spent few months on creating new vision for one of my prototypes. Originally it is block building game in the setting of soviet-like history slice from 50s to now days. But I eventually stuck in some sort of dead end, where I'm not sure how to evolve the game in something interesting. Still a lot of problems, but I definitely will continue or somehow will re-use this idea because there is something interesting inside it. Decides do not put link for playtest demo but it is existing somewhere.

It is was tough time actually because war started. It was hard to accept, it was shocking and not a lot of options what you actually can do against it. By coincidence I moved to Turkey for a month right at the beginning. And at the start of April there was 20th anniversary of Ludum Dare with Ludum Dare 50. So when I decided to participate it, idea for the game (theme was "Delay the inevitable") threw up out of me without any efforts. The final game as always was made under Compo category in 48 hours. It is something like autocracy simulator but where the end of dictator is inevitable. It also has bonus music track: complete all 5 endings or just type 'bonus'. In my opinion the game is ugly and almost unplayable but I also got some very positive feedback, you could play it through LD page 'Your Regime'.

And the last thing I want to mention is the first demo for my another new concept. I'm planning something metroidvania-like arcade game with some aesthetic and story exploration focus. It is only the first demo, and there a lot of things that I cut here (e.g. almost no sounds) just to finish it to break free to other projects. But if you interested, you can use pass 'monday' to download the prototype for Windows or macOS from itch.io page.

That's all for now I guess. Pretty satisfied that I finished at least this one post in half of year and it was written in one seat. Love you all!