🗝️ Bosskey Newsletter 16 - Papers Please with a BFG Canon, Game Dev Dad, Solo Dev 2D or 3D?
# 🗝️ Bosskey Newsletter #3 Things: 1 🎮 Game news, 1 🔎 Interesting Find, 1 📱Social Post. Written by a Part Time Indie Game Dev
This Week on BossKey Newsletter 📰
🎮 Game News
Papers Please with a BFG and you get PVKK: Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant
(I don’t even want to try to pronounce that name) The game is made in Godot which looks stunning with the visuals. I have to look twice that it was really made in Godot the art direction reminds me of the old World War 1 -2 Mechanical Designs. But with some sci-fi twist.
The gameplay Concept:
Operate your planetary defense cannon to fend off an interplanetary invasion from the comfort of your cozy bunker. You’re here to stay, so obey your superiors, press the right buttons, and sip your daily tea ration - it's good for you.
I can see more game devs giving the engine Godot a go. Many in the past said that Godot lack 3D Capabilities like Unity or Unreal but that is changing fast.
I am already trying and learning it to make 2D Games in Godot but my progress is slow due to work.
Developed by Bippinbits:
https://x.com/Bippinbits/status/1803854075521569263
Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2956040/PVKK_Planetenverteidigungskanonenkommandant/
📱Social Post
Game Dev Dad
So I came across this old blog post (2012) about doing Game Dev and Juggling parenting. He was developing a game for then Xbox Live using XNA. and working from home.
A very long blog post so here is some excerpts:
https://www.gamedevblog.com/2012/05/game-dev-dad.html
So I became a "Game Dev Dad" again. In the early days of Torpex I was in a similar situation - working from home, spending a lot of time with my other daughter (who wasn't in preschool at that time).
This time there wre some differences though. Back then I was under the illusion that what I was doing was almost guaranteed to pay for itself in the long run, once we started selling Schizoid on Xbox Live Arcade. So I kept the door to my office closed and my daughter (mostly) understood she wasn't to bother dad while he was working. Schizoid did great by indie game standards, but below average by Xbox Live Arcade standards of the time, and that meant it didn't make enough money to pay the team much.
So - going into this knowing that it probably wouldn't help support the family - I knew it wasn't fair to lock myself in my office while Cathy did all the stay-at-home-parenting. This time it had to be more of a fifty-fifty split. Now I'm just as much 'stay-at-home-dad' as 'game developer'.
On the one hand, I realize I'm very lucky to be able to do this. Most guys have to work just to pay the bills and don't get to spend as much time with their kids as they would like. How incredibly fortunate for me that I made enough money with Treyarch and Spider-Man that I can do this (for a little while longer, anyway.)
🔎 Interesting Finds
Should Solo Devs do 3D Games?
From the Solo Gamedev Newsletter. Writing about doing 2D vs 3D Games.
The complexity is increased in making 3d move but it can help save time if there are assets around to be bought.
I do feel learning gamedev you would start with 2D then move to 3D its much easier since dealing with code and visual simultaneously learning is hard.
