Derek Reese is making games
@derekree.se
The games guy in the red jacket.
Design Lead at indie game studio @chroniclersoftware.com , worked on Minecraft, Halo, O3DE, Valve Proton, WoW Auth, PAX & more. he/him
Design Lead at indie game studio @chroniclersoftware.com , worked on Minecraft, Halo, O3DE, Valve Proton, WoW Auth, PAX & more. he/him
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Derek Reese is making games
@derekree.se
· Sep 17
If you're part of a game studio, you're a game developer. An artist. Full stop.
Our CFO David: "I'm not a creative guy at all, I'm just a bean counter."
10m later, while brainstorming, solves a game system problem with a genius, far out idea.
David's a game dev. An artist. And our CFO.
Our CFO David: "I'm not a creative guy at all, I'm just a bean counter."
10m later, while brainstorming, solves a game system problem with a genius, far out idea.
David's a game dev. An artist. And our CFO.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
My new awnser for when someone asks "How do you make a game?" is "One day at a time."
November 13, 2025 at 8:45 PM
My new awnser for when someone asks "How do you make a game?" is "One day at a time."
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
the real source of truth was the tribal knowledge we found along the way!
November 13, 2025 at 4:52 AM
the real source of truth was the tribal knowledge we found along the way!
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
November 11, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
I believe in the concept of variable backup plans, the idea being the amount of detail is based on the likelihood of having to execute them.
Plan 2, several steps lined up. Plans 3-4, initial step lined up. Plans 5-7, have assessed viability. Plans 8+, have assessed comedic potential.
Plan 2, several steps lined up. Plans 3-4, initial step lined up. Plans 5-7, have assessed viability. Plans 8+, have assessed comedic potential.
November 9, 2025 at 11:59 PM
I believe in the concept of variable backup plans, the idea being the amount of detail is based on the likelihood of having to execute them.
Plan 2, several steps lined up. Plans 3-4, initial step lined up. Plans 5-7, have assessed viability. Plans 8+, have assessed comedic potential.
Plan 2, several steps lined up. Plans 3-4, initial step lined up. Plans 5-7, have assessed viability. Plans 8+, have assessed comedic potential.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
If you're a Seattle voter, check your ballot status!
www.thestranger.com/news/2025/11...
www.thestranger.com/news/2025/11...
November 11, 2025 at 1:21 AM
If you're a Seattle voter, check your ballot status!
www.thestranger.com/news/2025/11...
www.thestranger.com/news/2025/11...
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
My ballot was challenged and it only took me two minutes to correct. Please, check your ballot status!
We’re on the right track! Make sure you track your ballot to confirm it is accepted, NOT challenged. Check our links in bio to do so! More votes will be counted on Monday!
November 8, 2025 at 1:03 AM
My ballot was challenged and it only took me two minutes to correct. Please, check your ballot status!
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
If you want to start a newsletter and don't want to use Substack because they currently platform/sponsor Nazis: consider using the free and open-sourced alternative that has been around for over a decade.
I'll personally walk you through it.
I'll personally walk you through it.
The Alternative to Medium/Substack - Sharpie Posts
Stop using closed-sourced solutions and move towards free and open-sources options that scale better, especially for indie creators.
sharpiepls.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:03 PM
If you want to start a newsletter and don't want to use Substack because they currently platform/sponsor Nazis: consider using the free and open-sourced alternative that has been around for over a decade.
I'll personally walk you through it.
I'll personally walk you through it.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
Social conventions that protect abdication of responsibility and accountability.
Give me a couple hours and I'll figure a way to say it without sounding like a ratty old tenured professor.
Give me a couple hours and I'll figure a way to say it without sounding like a ratty old tenured professor.
Aura's thread on incompetent leadership is bang-on.
My question is how these 👇 kinds of practices became so common in the industry. Did we inherit it from tech? Was it a maladaptive development in the absence of existing best practices? Capture by outside investors?
How did we go so wrong?
My question is how these 👇 kinds of practices became so common in the industry. Did we inherit it from tech? Was it a maladaptive development in the absence of existing best practices? Capture by outside investors?
How did we go so wrong?
I can answer that
* business guy who runs a company because he has an MBA and rich friends
* person entering leadership sideways from leadership in an unrelated industry w/ no desire to learn
* single-discipline dev who went indie and has never had to think about full production before
* business guy who runs a company because he has an MBA and rich friends
* person entering leadership sideways from leadership in an unrelated industry w/ no desire to learn
* single-discipline dev who went indie and has never had to think about full production before
November 5, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Social conventions that protect abdication of responsibility and accountability.
Give me a couple hours and I'll figure a way to say it without sounding like a ratty old tenured professor.
Give me a couple hours and I'll figure a way to say it without sounding like a ratty old tenured professor.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
I don't really love to throw industry shade because it's rarely black and white, but I am going to remind people that a game starring arguably the most iconic black superhero was cancelled *in advance* of this sale and all of the GDC talks from staff working on it were shot down at the EA level
EA says it will retain creative control following Saudi sale, but like, come on
aftermath.site/ea-saudi-ara...
aftermath.site/ea-saudi-ara...
November 4, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I don't really love to throw industry shade because it's rarely black and white, but I am going to remind people that a game starring arguably the most iconic black superhero was cancelled *in advance* of this sale and all of the GDC talks from staff working on it were shot down at the EA level
YES. It's easy to find white guys that are a good fit when your whole team is already white guys.
Lack of accountability and unwillingness to have hard conversations is a plague on the games industry in particular.
Do the work. Build talent pipelines that support people as diverse as your fans.
Lack of accountability and unwillingness to have hard conversations is a plague on the games industry in particular.
Do the work. Build talent pipelines that support people as diverse as your fans.
There's a certain argument that I hate so fuckin much and it's when you're like "hey isn't it weird that this studio seems to be almost exclusively white guys" and you get somebody who's like "um have you considered that those people were just the best fit?"
November 5, 2025 at 12:26 AM
YES. It's easy to find white guys that are a good fit when your whole team is already white guys.
Lack of accountability and unwillingness to have hard conversations is a plague on the games industry in particular.
Do the work. Build talent pipelines that support people as diverse as your fans.
Lack of accountability and unwillingness to have hard conversations is a plague on the games industry in particular.
Do the work. Build talent pipelines that support people as diverse as your fans.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
Hi, Seattle! Please remember to vote tomorrow!
November 4, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Hi, Seattle! Please remember to vote tomorrow!
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
girls don’t want boyfriends, they want Bad Company 3.
November 3, 2025 at 3:16 PM
girls don’t want boyfriends, they want Bad Company 3.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
Happy Halloween from Chronicler! Tonight we're hanging with the fam, snagging some candy, and pulling up a couch co-op or two
What games are on your list tonight??
#halloween #indiegames #gamerdad #gamermom
What games are on your list tonight??
#halloween #indiegames #gamerdad #gamermom
November 1, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Happy Halloween from Chronicler! Tonight we're hanging with the fam, snagging some candy, and pulling up a couch co-op or two
What games are on your list tonight??
#halloween #indiegames #gamerdad #gamermom
What games are on your list tonight??
#halloween #indiegames #gamerdad #gamermom
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
Today, Seattle and #Cascadia demonstrated that they can care for and protect our neighbors, even as the federal government ignores them and lets them go hungry. You braved the rain to donate 2,000 pounds - 1 ton - of food to food banks serving those at risk of losing SNAP benefits. Thank you! 💚🇱🇸
November 2, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Today, Seattle and #Cascadia demonstrated that they can care for and protect our neighbors, even as the federal government ignores them and lets them go hungry. You braved the rain to donate 2,000 pounds - 1 ton - of food to food banks serving those at risk of losing SNAP benefits. Thank you! 💚🇱🇸
Lack of retirement security in the US has led to small business owners selling to conglomerates and private equity instead of running apprenticeships and passing on knowledge.
Retirees are looting the next generation's future to pay down the cruelty of their and their parents' generations.
Retirees are looting the next generation's future to pay down the cruelty of their and their parents' generations.
October 31, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Lack of retirement security in the US has led to small business owners selling to conglomerates and private equity instead of running apprenticeships and passing on knowledge.
Retirees are looting the next generation's future to pay down the cruelty of their and their parents' generations.
Retirees are looting the next generation's future to pay down the cruelty of their and their parents' generations.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
I miss drawing as much as I did back in the day, it's such a huge time commitment and I know if I did I'd be tapped on everything else.
October 31, 2025 at 8:54 AM
I miss drawing as much as I did back in the day, it's such a huge time commitment and I know if I did I'd be tapped on everything else.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
i read that ign article about love and deepspace characters with darker skin tones not being visible in cutscenes and, because it is a pet peeve of mine, yes this is a real issue and i don't mean to diminish it but ALSO it is not a "lighting problem" so much as a systemic albedo/shading problem
October 31, 2025 at 3:05 PM
i read that ign article about love and deepspace characters with darker skin tones not being visible in cutscenes and, because it is a pet peeve of mine, yes this is a real issue and i don't mean to diminish it but ALSO it is not a "lighting problem" so much as a systemic albedo/shading problem
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.
October 31, 2025 at 8:19 AM
I love how Rep. Joe Neguse reframed this question.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
friends in the US, here’s a great website that lists food assistance sites and services near you.
if you need it, take it. it’s given with love and goodwill to you from your community
for those with resources to spare—please consider donating to your local 💖
foodsearch.net
if you need it, take it. it’s given with love and goodwill to you from your community
for those with resources to spare—please consider donating to your local 💖
foodsearch.net
Find Food Banks & Pantries Near You | FoodSearch.net
Find food banks, pantries, and hot meals near you. Free food assistance resources nationwide.
foodsearch.net
October 31, 2025 at 2:12 PM
friends in the US, here’s a great website that lists food assistance sites and services near you.
if you need it, take it. it’s given with love and goodwill to you from your community
for those with resources to spare—please consider donating to your local 💖
foodsearch.net
if you need it, take it. it’s given with love and goodwill to you from your community
for those with resources to spare—please consider donating to your local 💖
foodsearch.net
Yes, you are being asked to train your replacements.
The same thing happened with outsourcing overseas, with managers promising people they would still have jobs right up until they were fired.
Screw that.
www.businessinsider.com/inside-ai-di...
The same thing happened with outsourcing overseas, with managers promising people they would still have jobs right up until they were fired.
Screw that.
www.businessinsider.com/inside-ai-di...
Inside the AI divide roiling video game giant Electronic Arts
The white-collar war over AI is getting ugly: 'When the dogs won't eat the dog food.'
www.businessinsider.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Yes, you are being asked to train your replacements.
The same thing happened with outsourcing overseas, with managers promising people they would still have jobs right up until they were fired.
Screw that.
www.businessinsider.com/inside-ai-di...
The same thing happened with outsourcing overseas, with managers promising people they would still have jobs right up until they were fired.
Screw that.
www.businessinsider.com/inside-ai-di...
Netflix refusing to release Frankenstein to the big theater chains is so stupid.
I'd watch it in theaters, then watch it again on streaming, just like I do with all of del Toro's works.
What a loss, not everyone has a home theater and it deserves a big screen and sound.
I'd watch it in theaters, then watch it again on streaming, just like I do with all of del Toro's works.
What a loss, not everyone has a home theater and it deserves a big screen and sound.
October 29, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Netflix refusing to release Frankenstein to the big theater chains is so stupid.
I'd watch it in theaters, then watch it again on streaming, just like I do with all of del Toro's works.
What a loss, not everyone has a home theater and it deserves a big screen and sound.
I'd watch it in theaters, then watch it again on streaming, just like I do with all of del Toro's works.
What a loss, not everyone has a home theater and it deserves a big screen and sound.
Also, building a good remote work culture is a hard ongoing process that requires lots of accountability from leadership.
Why go through all that effort to benefit employees when you've already budgeted for leases 10 years out?
(We're fully remote at work and it is HARD but worth it.)
Why go through all that effort to benefit employees when you've already budgeted for leases 10 years out?
(We're fully remote at work and it is HARD but worth it.)
I think every rationale for why capitalists want RTO is post-hoc. Investments, efficiency, big brother-ing employees, etc.
The real reason is an emotional one: physically seeing a group of people who have to pay attention to you and do what you say feels extremely good when you're a sociopath
The real reason is an emotional one: physically seeing a group of people who have to pay attention to you and do what you say feels extremely good when you're a sociopath
October 28, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Also, building a good remote work culture is a hard ongoing process that requires lots of accountability from leadership.
Why go through all that effort to benefit employees when you've already budgeted for leases 10 years out?
(We're fully remote at work and it is HARD but worth it.)
Why go through all that effort to benefit employees when you've already budgeted for leases 10 years out?
(We're fully remote at work and it is HARD but worth it.)
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
Look at this lego lighthouse and Twig! It's so nice to see something you worked on inspire creativity in others.
October 28, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Look at this lego lighthouse and Twig! It's so nice to see something you worked on inspire creativity in others.
Reposted by Derek Reese is making games
I don’t know how many times I have to say this but if you didn’t know any geek girls in high school or you don’t know any now it’s because they didn’t trust you and you’re *NOT A SAFE PERSON* for women to be themselves around.
October 25, 2025 at 5:18 AM
I don’t know how many times I have to say this but if you didn’t know any geek girls in high school or you don’t know any now it’s because they didn’t trust you and you’re *NOT A SAFE PERSON* for women to be themselves around.