Mack
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imackshundevs.bsky.social
Mack
@imackshundevs.bsky.social
He/Him | Game Programmer | Graphics/Game Engine Enthusiast | Developer of MEngine | Lover of Android, Homebrew, & Handhelds
Another small update on the Kingdom Hearts-like prototype. I added basic menus, magic, and abilities. Combat is feeling pretty good so far. I may make jump/dodge cancelling an ability, but we’ll see.

#gamedev #blackgamedev #indiegamedev #opengl
November 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Currently working on a Kingdom Hearts-like prototype and blocking out what I’d like the character to be able to do. I’m really trying to get a similar game feel to KH1 mixed with KH2, and I’d say that’s going pretty well so far.

#gamedev #indiegamedev #android #opengl
October 25, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I made a quick Android port of my one of my old prototypes and wanted to see how it runs on the Xperia Play. It is playable, but I’ll see if there are areas I can optimize for better performance. #android #opengl #opengles #gamedev #xperiaplay
September 6, 2025 at 7:38 PM
I’m currently going through a lot of my old projects and updating the code to be in-sync with all of the changes made to my engine over the years, and there are some bugs that need fixing, lol #opengl #gamedev
September 4, 2025 at 4:42 PM
I was having some performance issues with Phong lighting on older Android devices, but I forgot Gouraud shading exists. After implementing it, performance is MUCH better, especially on the Xperia Play. #android #androidndk #opengles #gamedev
September 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Got a few more Android phones to add to my collection of Android devices to use for testing. I’m sure if my games can run on the Nexus One, it can run on anything, lol #android #google
September 4, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Being chased in horror games is so funny to me. 😭 In general, I’ll aim to make every enemy feel like a constant threat, because that level of anxiety is terrifying. I used the naive approach as a base, and will add actual pathfinding soon. #gamedev #indiegamedev
March 24, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I experimented with lighting, and somewhat sorted out how I want the light sources organized within the environment. As to be expected, this drastically changes the atmosphere of the game 😭. Now things are getting spooky. Will add shadows next. #gamedev #indiegamedev #opengl
March 24, 2025 at 4:26 PM
After getting English-Japanese trades working for Gen 1, I used that code as a base to get it working for Gen 2 as well. Mission complete! 🫡 I’ll write up how it all works and release the code soon. #arduino #pokemon #gameboy
February 10, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Now I have the Arduino serving as the Master, while the two Gameboys are Slaves. Logic analyzers really are a godsend! Being able to record and then view the signals as SPI is INSANELY useful 😭 Now I’ll swap Yellow with Pocket Monsters Midori and do some translation. #arduino #pokemon
February 2, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Another step forward 🫡 In this setup, I extract data from a Pokemon Yellow Save and store it on the Arduino, where you can trade with it through the link cable. Now that I understand how this works, I’ll look into making trades between ENG and JPN Gen 1-2 games possible. #gameboy #pokemon #arduino
January 27, 2025 at 7:30 PM
If you faintly heard an evil laugh a few moments ago, it was probably me. Those “Preamble” (0xFD) bytes are not arbitrary at all, and reading the decompilation of Pokemon Yellow allowed me to see that. MEWTWO #gameboy #arduino #pokemon
January 22, 2025 at 7:44 PM
After using an Arduino to monitor the data coming from Pokemon Yellow and looking at the disassembly and other sources, I’ve gathered that this is the structure of that the data being sent between Gen I Pokemon games, right before the trade party menu gets displayed. 👀 #gameboy #pokemon
January 21, 2025 at 10:24 PM
After a few issues with interrupts, I was able to get the Gameboy to exchange data with an Arduino.
Now, I'll move on to checking out data transmission between Gen 2 Pokemon games, and from there, placing the Arduino in the middle of the communication to modify some properties. #gameboy #arduino
January 20, 2025 at 3:26 AM
To debug a data issue between my Gameboy and the Arduino, I took a look with an oscilloscope and noticed the bits were off there too. As it turns out, the interrupt on the Arduino triggered twice on a rising edge of the clock. Odd. #gameboy
January 19, 2025 at 10:56 PM
The chat program I wrote seems to work well when running on actual hardware. (Got some communication issues on Sameboy core?) Now, the plan is to replace one of the Gameboys with an Arduino, and have it respond based on what message you send to it. 🫡 #gameboy
January 18, 2025 at 7:03 PM
The amount of assembly instructions needed to draw a dynamically sized box was way more than I imagined. 😭 I’m still waiting on the second GB flashcart to come in. Once it does, I’ll wrap up this simple chat app and try sniffing the link cable data with an Arduino. #gameboy
January 16, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Lately, I’ve been exploring writing Gameboy games in assembly, overall just to observe how data flows through the link cable, and ultimately hook it up to an Arduino and apply what I learned about communication protocols. This is step 1. 😤 #gameboy
January 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM
I modeled a lot of low-poly objects to block out the environment. I’m using my engine, so I place models around like this. It makes me feel like I’m playing Animal Crossing or Prop Hunt. 😭 #gamedev #blender
January 4, 2025 at 11:46 PM
I felt inspired after watching a few Indie Horror games, so I’m taking a slight detour to make a simple horror game. I'm currently just making a framework that will serve as a base for the various horror games l'd like to make in the future. #gamedev
January 4, 2025 at 11:44 PM
A while back, I started to play around with circuits and such, and made a game of Snake using an Arduino, Shift Registers, and an 8x8 Dot Matrix Display. Lately, I’ve wondered how controllers work internally, so I did some research and wired it up. 👀

#arduino #electricalengineering #nes
November 22, 2024 at 7:45 PM
What was really fun so far is implementing swinging functionality, sort of like how it works on Ratchet & Clank. I’ll likely draw inspiration from a lot more of my favorite games. 🤩
November 22, 2024 at 5:51 PM
This is what I’m working on currently. Just a simple adventure game inspired by Zelda. I have a lot of the core functionality implemented, so now I’m working on making environments and dungeons. Admittedly, this is the difficult part, but I’ll conquer art/texturing one step at a time.

#gamedev
November 22, 2024 at 5:47 PM
This was a small prototype that I made because I wanted to experiment with Xenoblade/FFXII style combat. I haven’t done much with it, but it was fun to work on, especially on the Animation/VFX side.

#gamedev
November 22, 2024 at 5:35 PM
I worked on this PMD fangame recently to learn more about socket programming and to also experiment with the A* algorithm. Multiplayer is functional, it is just slow and there are occasional desyncs that I need to address. Shelved for now.

#pokemon #gamedev
November 22, 2024 at 5:28 PM