Sam
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smbns.bsky.social
Sam
@smbns.bsky.social
270 followers 1.2K following 230 posts
🏞️ UI & Visual Designer
🧱 Building Geomancy - a sustainable indie studio 🕹️

🎛️ Documenting the indie dev journey along the way
🏰 Worldbuilder, 📝 Writer, 🎮 JRPG fan
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smbns.bsky.social
I took a video also to show it.
April 22, 2025 at 11:28 AM
smbns.bsky.social
Found a good real world example of subsurface scattering with the light changing on this plant.

#gameart #reference #photoreference
A good example of Subsurface scattering taking place in the real world, as sunlight is coming from behind a plant and changing the colour of the leaf from light greenish to a crimson colour due to the way the light comes through the translucent leaf.
April 22, 2025 at 11:25 AM
smbns.bsky.social
Friday means its Godot lunchtime learning - added an SMG model, fire rate and learnt about inheritance

#godot #gamedev #learning
A screenshot from the Godot game engine showing some code which allows a user to cast a ray when clicking to fire in the game, the SMG model recoils and the raycast prints what the user shot at. The image shows a windowed game running showing the SMG model in a FPS shooter style.
April 4, 2025 at 11:57 AM
smbns.bsky.social
Made some more progress learning Godot, first sandbox level design for @bramwilliams.co.uk Robo Rampage course!

#godot #solodev #gamedev
A screenshot from inside the Godot game engine showing a sandbox level created with CSG objects in colours orange and grey. The level has cylinders to jump between, sets of stairs, some bridges and a few archways between walls.
March 25, 2025 at 3:00 PM
smbns.bsky.social
Been quiet recently as I got my head down to working through a Godot course - built this little tower defense game and learnt a ton about the engine and how these type of games are built. Now on to build an FPS and learn from that

#Godot #IndieDev #Learning
A screenshot of a tower defense game called Babarian Blaster from a Godot course on Udemy. It has a beige path which 4 babarian character models are walking along and one tower situated in the middle of where the path loops. Several trees and rocks fill the grass land grid map and a castle is standing in the top left of the screen with. text overlaid showing 50 out of 50 health left. In the bottom left is some UI text showing gold 110.
March 18, 2025 at 2:36 PM
smbns.bsky.social
And with that the first newsletter issue is gone 🛫💌 a little preview below 🕹️
A image with a gradient background showing some screenshots of the content in the first Tomes & Tactics newsletter. The screenshots show the email with a title for '2 inspiring worlds' then showing a screencap from Studio Atma's Gravastar game and some material images next to text for the 3 useful finds.
February 28, 2025 at 2:06 PM
smbns.bsky.social
Back to learning #Godot today, with some raycasting and updating a grid map using it 🎮

#indiedev #learning
A screenshot of the Godot game engine, showing a script that uses raycasting to locate which grid-map tile is selected and update it to a different colour once found.
February 20, 2025 at 1:25 PM
smbns.bsky.social
Is it bad that up until now I thought Howl's Moving Castle was an original Ghibli story and not based on a book series?! At least I have 3 new books on the read list now 📚
The book cover for the Diana Wynne Jones book "Howl's Moving Castle", the cover shows a blue sky with fireworks in it, gossamer clouds and a castle huge in sized peering through the clouds. In the foreground stand two figures on a grassy hillside with the wind swirling around. The book title is laid over the bottom of the cover.
February 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM
smbns.bsky.social
Still working on the design for @arcanepyre.bsky.social but thought I would share the look/feel I am trying to achieve for it with this little board
A moodboard with a collection of screenshots of various websites, films and games for which are inspiration for the design of the Arcane Pyre website I am currently working on.
February 13, 2025 at 9:43 PM
smbns.bsky.social
You could do the same with Google Drive/Insert Drive app here or just store a local library directly on your machine too also. But Eagle allows for smart folders and makes tagging simple to set up
A screenshot of Eagle App on a mac desktop, showing a collection of references mainly for costume design on display in little thumbnails.
February 10, 2025 at 3:46 PM
smbns.bsky.social
A goal this year was to launch a studio as a solo-dev and document the journey over the next couple of years alongside my day job. Put together a quick list of all the #indiedev skills/areas I think I will need to explore or at least learn the basics of (I can probably breakdown further I realise)
A screenshot of a notion page with a list of skills I think I need to learn at least the basics of to become a solo-dev. The list - [ ] Environment Art - [ ] User Interface 🟢 - [ ] VFX / Shaders - [ ] SFX - [ ] Audio - [ ] Animation / Motion - [ ] Marketing - [ ] Level Design - [ ] Concept Art - [ ] Worldbuilding 🟢 - [ ] Character Design - [ ] Rigging - [ ] Game Design / Mechanics - [ ] Programming - [ ] Narrative Design - [ ] Art Direction / Visual - [ ] Creature Design - [ ] QA / Testing - [ ] Community Management
February 5, 2025 at 10:31 PM
smbns.bsky.social
Managed to get back into learning a little bit more about Godot today.
A simple game created in the Godot engine, it shows a path which an enemy pill shape is moving along, at the end is a red cylinder with a number 5 floating above indicating its health.
January 30, 2025 at 1:01 PM
smbns.bsky.social
I think its actually fine, I use Nordpass and it looks like its the icon the browser is adding into the DOM which is causing the misalignment:
January 24, 2025 at 2:39 PM
smbns.bsky.social
Just subscribed, didn't know there was newsletter. The form button and field were misaligned - thought you should know!
January 24, 2025 at 9:43 AM
smbns.bsky.social
Did some gesture sketching this morning as part of a team warm up at work. First time I've properly sketched in ages and it felt good. Used @trueref.bsky.social free reference resources to work from, took about 3 mins per stance. These were the best two.
December 20, 2024 at 2:31 PM
smbns.bsky.social
20 Day Video Game Challenge.
20 video games that greatly influenced you.
No explanations, no reviews, just pictures.
Day 20: Croc Legend of the Gobbos

#GameChallenge
#Games
#GameDev
The title art for Croc Legends of the Gobbos on PS1. It shows a cliff top with a small anthropomorphic crocodile jumping through the air with a little fluffy ball on some floating stone discs behind Croc. The title of the game is in a lock up on the top left hand corner with a yellow glow outline and purple scale like texture. An in-game screenshot of Croc Legends of the Gobbos showing Croc running through a desert level with a pit to the right of the screen that the user can fall into with three floating platforms over the pit. A doorway is built into a sand bank at the back of the scene. An in-game screenshot from Croc Legends of the Gobbos, showing an icy environment high up on mountain. Croc is centre screen with a giant gold cog like platform in from of him. An in-game screenshot from Croc Legends of the Gobbos showing Croc on a grassland type area with a fallen tree to climb across a lava pit with some floating shiny orbs on top to collect.
December 10, 2024 at 9:00 AM
smbns.bsky.social
20 Day Video Game Challenge.
20 video games that greatly influenced you.
No explanations, no reviews, just pictures.
Day 19: Metal Gear Solid

#GameChallenge
#Games
#GameDev
The Metal Gear Solid box art for PS1, its a white background with the words 'Metal Gear Solid' in the red classic lock-up design. Down the left hand side is the black playstation banding for all cases and the Konami logo sits in the bottom right corner. An in-game screenshot of Metal Gear Solid showing a container yard with an enemy walking down a central column between containers in a white snow suit style outfit. Snake is pressed with his back up against a container in the the front of the image. A green retro computer style mini map is in the top right corner. An in-game screenshot of Metal Gear Solid, showing Snake kneeling down with his back to a wall in the front of the shot. The background shows an industrial warehouse like design with some stacked crates and a enemy unit walking towards Snake. A mini map is in the top right corner and a UI for a the selected weapon and ammo sit in the bottom right. An in-game screenshot of Metal Gear Solid with the player looking down a rifle scope with a cross hair set on an enemy unit in the distance.
December 9, 2024 at 9:07 AM
smbns.bsky.social
20 Day Video Game Challenge.
20 video games that greatly influenced you.
No explanations, no reviews, just pictures.
Day 18: Tactics Ogre: Reborn

#GameChallenge
#Games
#GameDev
An in-game screenshot of a cinematic, showing a conversation between Denam and The Holy Knight Lancelot. Their portraits are shown overlaid text speech bubbles that look like parchment. The conversation is layered over a pixel art background scene of a fantasy town. An in-game screenshot of the battlefield in Tactics Ogre Reborn, it shows some steps up towards a castle in a pixel art style. It is a battle screen split into individual squares of varying elevation and has some stone, grass and sand tiles. Characters are standing in place on the screen. An in-game screenshot of the unit list in Tactics Ogre Reborn, it shows a UI screen with 3 rows of pixel art characters showing their class type and level. Tactics Ogre Reborn title screen, showing an old script typeface for the game title in a gold to silver gradient colour. The background sows two characters standing on rock ledge holding a flag.
December 8, 2024 at 11:01 PM
smbns.bsky.social
20 Day Video Game Challenge.
20 video games that greatly influenced you.
No explanations, no reviews, just pictures.
Day 17: Age of Empires II

#GameChallenge
#Games
#GameDev
An in-game screenshot of Age of Empires 2, showing a desert or tropical climate area of a civilisation, with a walled town. It has a archer range, a barracks and a marketplace visible in a feudal age style of buildings. Age of Empires 2 cover art featuring the different heads from cultures, one an english king, one a viking lord and one from a rural japan era. The words The Age of Kings is written in red text across the bottom and there are several scenes in a blue tone across the background.
December 7, 2024 at 10:18 PM
smbns.bsky.social
20 Day Video Game Challenge.
20 video games that greatly influenced you.
No explanations, no reviews, just pictures.
Day 16: Final Fantasy 9

#GameChallenge
#Games
#GameDev
An in-game screenshot of an early battle in Final Fantasy 9. It shows a party of 4 characters including the main, Zidane, fighting in a wooden cabin like room against a lizard like monster. There is UI in the bottom section of the screen with options like 'Attack' and 'Defend' and then next to it is a set of character details for HP, MP and a bar for ATB. An in-game screenshot from an early cinematic in Final Fantasy 9, where Zidane is kneeling down in the center of the shot with a hooded figure standing opposite. A wooden bookcase style bit of furniture is in the background. A speech bubble above Zidane's head reads "I shall hereby do my best to kidnap you!". The main splash art for Final Fantasy 9 showing all the playable characters in a sketched style in a row across the image, the background is a white overlay of a castle or airship scene with the wordmark for the game across the top of the image. Characters from left to right; Freya, Eiko, Vivi, Stein, Garnet, Zidane, Quina and Amarant. An easter-egg image which actually shows a screenshot from the fan-made Final Fantasy 9 Memoria project, which is a fan-based remake of FF9. It shows a modern version of the game, with Vivi standing in front of a stone fountain with a chocobo statue in the middle of it spitting water out. The rest of the scene is a fantasy style town square with cobbles and steps and buildings all around.
December 6, 2024 at 12:36 PM
smbns.bsky.social
20 Day Video Game Challenge.
20 video games that greatly influenced you.
No explanations, no reviews, just pictures.
Day 15: Skyrim

#GameChallenge
#Games
#GameDev
An in game cinematic shot from Skyrim showing the hero in the foreground, back to camera holding a shield and sword, with a dragon swooping down into view in the background. The scene is a frosty tundra like landscape where the fight is about to take place. The main protagonist from Skyrim the game stands against a dark background with steam and smoke particles all around them. A slight rim and spotlight is hitting them on the top of the head and shoulders. A helmet with two curved down horns is worn alongside leather viking like armour and gauntlets. An in-game screenshot of the inventory UI in Skyrim, the character is shown on the right hand side, in a split screen view, whilst on the left hand side is a translucent black style UI panel with a list of items which the user can scroll down through in white text. An in-game screenshot of a medieval looking settlement with a cobble stone road and triangular roofed building that line it on both sides. The main character is in center shot of the image. A few other NPCs are visible on the road.
December 5, 2024 at 10:58 PM
smbns.bsky.social
Committing to try and share more work as and when I can, so with that in mind here is a little mascot animation for a game studio or similar. It was cool to explore something more whimsical and fun for a brand! Done in Figma and animated in AE.
December 4, 2024 at 11:26 AM
smbns.bsky.social
20 Day Video Game Challenge.
20 video games that greatly influenced you.
No explanations, no reviews, just pictures.
Day 14: Vagrant Story

#GameChallenge
#Games
#GameDev
An in-game screenshot of Ashley attacking an enemy for 77 damage in the pixel background of what looks like a castle setting. Another armoured enemy is close to Ashley and a red exclamation mark is shown on screen as part of the UI warning the player of an imminent attack. An in-game screenshot of a battle between the hero, Ashley, and an enemy. Ashley is surrounded by purple and red particle effects showing healing magic being used to restore 12 hit points. The battle scene is a dirt or sand covered floor with stone walls and some wooden crates dotted around. An in-game cinematic from Vagrant Story showing two men and a woman all wearing some form of armour, with the front centre man having a comic style speech bubble coming out from their left shoulder with the text "This it?". The title art for the Playstation 1 game Vagrant story, featuring the hero Ashley Riot and a female character. The style of the title art is hand sketched in a limited colour palette on a parchment like background. The Vagrant Story logo is overlaid in its display typeface.
December 4, 2024 at 9:10 AM
smbns.bsky.social
20 Day Video Game Challenge.
20 video games that greatly influenced you.
No explanations, no reviews, just pictures.
Day 13: Canis Canem Edit (AKA Bully)

#GameChallenge
#Games
#GameDev
The main protagonist in the game Bully shown in the middle of the screen wearing a full body bull mascot outfit for the school they attend. They are standing on a dirt road outside the town. The Canis Canem Edit splash art for the game, its shows a blue background with the crests of different houses in the school overlaid, and then two characters. The main protagonist, a shaved headed youth in school uniform, and the school headmaster squaring up to each other in a stand off whilst both grimacing. An in-game screenshot of the Bully game with kids in winter clothings running down a dormitory hallway. An in-game screenshot of the protagonist in Bully firing a slingshot type weapon down at other students in a stone courtyard from a roof top as part of a mission in the game.
December 3, 2024 at 9:47 AM
smbns.bsky.social
20 Day Video Game Challenge.
20 video games that greatly influenced you.
No explanations, no reviews, just pictures.
Day 12: Syndicate (1993)

#GameChallenge
#Games
#GameDev
The title screen for the 1993 game Syndicate. It shows an in-game screen of a building with steps leading up to the front of it with some UI elements down the left hand side, and overlaid is the word Syndicate in yellow lettering with a red outline. An in-game screenshot from Syndicate showing a futuristic intersection with a few buildings, some vehicles on the road and lots of people. You can see a red cross hair on screen and the player is controlling four units who are shooting at enemies. A green almost night vision inspired looking screen from Syndicate showing a mission briefing for the level. Another green screen with the night vision like aesthetic. It shows the title 'Team Selection' and has the options for selecting four different units each with this own equipment and weapons.
December 2, 2024 at 9:23 AM