[rossvor]

If you see a devlog post from Lucas Pope you know it's going to be a goldmine. No matter the topic. Dude has a real knack in writing these, clearly describing the problem and the thought process on possible solution. And making it all very interesting so you yourself start thinking how would you address it or what other cool thing could be built instead.

Here's some of his other huge devlogs on TIGSOURCE:

1. Papers, Please. https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=29750.0

2. Return of the Obra Dinn. https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=40832.0

[aerovistae]

Yes, the guy is honestly some type of genius. To be this talented of a programmer, and across multiple platforms, languages, and toolsets just dazzles me. It's hard enough to just be competent with one platform. I can't imagine.

And on top of that he composes the music and makes the art and literally everything else.

I honestly just don't understand how a person can get that good at that many things.

[hbn]

He's also a fantastic game designer. I played through Return of the Obra Dinn last year and it was one of the coolest game experiences I've had. It really doesn't hold your hand, it's just using logic and clues to piece together a mystery and put names to faces. Keep a notepad handy and it's a real fun time!

[bspammer]

This is what's truly mindblowing about Lucas Pope to me. Many people are technically talented, but good game designers are really, really hard to come by. Having both in one person just feels unfair.

Obra Dinn, especially, is one of my favourite games of all time, it's such a unique experience.

[slazaro]

Aesthetically too. If you've seen screenshots of Obra Dinn, you remember. It has such a distinctive look to it.

[the_af]

I was about to write this. Lukas Pope is not only technically talented, he's also a brilliant games designer.

As for Obra Dinn, I found it very cool that many puzzles have more than one answer, in particular when it's a subjective matter!

[rkagerer]

Huh. I got bored of Papers, Please. Guess it's just not my cup of tea. Will have to try Obra Dinn.

[aerovistae]

Same. Obra Dinn is a much more complicated and interesting game. It's 10x the game Papers, Please is.

[thrwyoilarticle]

Interestingly Lucas Pope says he thinks Papers Please is a better game. As a method of telling a story I think it's as good as you can get - e.g. the gameplay in Obra Dinn doesn't thematically link to the story in the same way - but I'm just don't enjoy the game. I know: you're supposed to be bored, it's supposed to be unwieldy, you're supposed to be frustrated by the rules. But I just want to do something else.

[Andrew_nenakhov]

His post on how exactly he came up with those really nice 2bit graphics in a way that it doesn't hurt the eyes and creates that very unique look was very enlightening.

[1ark]

Speaking as a game dev, I think you can learn it, but it takes time. I was interested since a kid to make games. And as a teenager programmed some for the web, and trying to learn C++ reading Quake2 source or whatever I could find, also bought some game dev books. Not much came out of it I thought. At around twenty, there were enough tutorials in Macromedia tools to sort of guide me toward something. Then I struck luck getting into game programming at a tech institute. Finally I could make something, it took more than a decade to get simple games on the screen for me. But I get easily distracted, procrastinate and lack enough IQ. Those books and formulas were hard for a mediocre teenager.

Parallel to all this I was interested in music too. Fooling around in ReBirth and Fruity Loops. Many years later got a guitar and tried to learn that, you get a lot of music theory from that. That theory is much easier than programming, still takes a lot of time.

Drawing I'm not really good at, but got an eye for what looks decent and can play with colors. On a computer it can almost be like cheating because you can be "inspired" by others. But books and tutorials on art exists too of course, how far that rabbit hole do you want to go? And 3D is a bit of a mix between tech and art, you could draw a cute character on paper front and side with a pencil. And when you model, texture, rig and animate that; it can be really impressive.

What I am trying to say, it looks like genius but it is a lot of work over a period. But it is creative/craft work, and not boring. And you can learn the basics of all the areas and make something great. When making apps, all those areas of you are unused. No music, no art. At best some graphic design (UI).

If you want to really put it in a compressed environment where it is not (?) overwhelming, but still technical, try C64 programming. There are lots of resources and step-by-step guides, and you will get a taste of everything and can build from there. We are many that have the desire to make our own games. Some are indeed geniuses, or very strong in multiple areas. Others just stumbled across Unity and are going through whatever guides there are with desire. These days you can choose your difficulty and dedication level.

For simpler games, getting your game to run on desktop, iOS and Android is not that hard. Because most platform code will be some glue, and then you are off inside your own game code. It takes weeks/months to figure that out, but then you are done and carry it with you for every game in the future. Then when you put it all together plus the uniqueness of your game (because it is unique right?!), you get a great and interesting blog post like this one!

[franknine]

Another great devlog thread on TIGSOURCE is Leilani's Island by Craig Forrester, it's a treasure trove of 2D platformer development:

https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=46289.0

[collegeburner]

Arstechnica did a war stories with him on Return of the Obra Dinn, combining one of my fave video series with one of my fave gamedevs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMi6xgdSbMA

[frenchie14]

His youtube[0] also has some very interesting behind the scenes content. If you haven't seen the Obra Dinn ship building timelapse[1] you're in for a treat! (Major spoilers - don't watch unless you've already beaten the game!)

[0] https://www.youtube.com/user/dukope1 [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZFoBvJf8Ug

[dclowd9901]

He wrote an entire app in unity just for the schematic playback. I’m gobsmacked by his ingenuity!

[dclowd9901]

From a practical standpoint, I can’t even understand how he writes these! Presumably, this process took him months (a year?) to work through. What was he doing that whole time? Taking notes and captures for an eventual blog post? It just seems he has an incredible ability for organization and foresight, one that I am deeply jealous of.

[scyzoryk_xyz]

Yes - I remember even coming across those before Papers became a bigger thing. So thorough

[BoredPuffin]

Thanks for recommending this! Haven't heard of him before but really interesting read.

[bradknowles]

TL;DR -- it's a game. That was designed for computers with a mouse and not for a touch-oriented environment, and so a lot of hard work had to be done to port it to phones.