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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Aug 21

It only took 12 years, but I have just implemented THE most important feature in Cadence...

#PetTheCat

Reposted by The Funtastic

Alan Hazelden / Draknek & Friends @draknek.bsky.social · Aug 8

We're excited to announce that applications are open for the Draknek New Voices Puzzle Grant 2025 🎉

The grant will award $15,000 to five thinky puzzle game developers from all over the world, and a year's mentorship with genre veterans.

Deadline: September 28th
More info 👇
grants.draknek.org

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Aug 7

Would really love to get folks to beta test the later levels! Shoot me a DM or join the discord: discord.gg/kp9W9Qr

Join the Cadence Discord Server!

The official Cadence discord. A game about solving puzzles to make music. Discuss development and follow progress. | 112 members

discord.gg

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Aug 7

There are now almost 60 levels! Translation:

We have a video game folks! 🎉

I'm hard on myself, but wouldn't be possible without features I started mucking with years ago. It's edifying to see my instincts come good - they just needed generous brain-in-the-cave immersion time to crystallise!

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Aug 7

I wrestled the blank canvas so many times over the last months

But one happy accident at a time, I teased out new patterns and crafted a journey that ties together so much of what only existed as ambient potential before.

My favourite levels weren't designed, so much as discovered.

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Aug 7

More levels had always been a "later" problem.

Of course, this was naive. Level design is an intricate art, later arrived and I had to confront that my programmer brain was avoiding the problem. I knew how I wanted the arc to feel, but I wasn't really sure how to execute it...

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Aug 7

Crucially, Cadence just didn't have enough levels.

Game length isn't a good metric for quality (Monument Valley only had 10 levels). Puzzle games especially see high drop off rates as levels get harder. But people still want to experience an arc, and end somewhere different from where they began

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Aug 7

Simple example: for ages Cadence couldn't competently tell you how many levels you'd completed 😅

The new overworld menu now does that job well - but it's table stakes. It doesn't move the needle or make people care, but they do care if it's missing...

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Aug 7

As I explained to a novelist friend: "You wouldn't release a book without an editor"

As a reader you don't want to see spelling mistakes. As a gamer you might tolerate some bugs, but a game still needs to meet many expectations...

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Aug 7

Them: Just release your game, it's done right?
Me:

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Reposted by The Funtastic

Mario von Rickenbach @mariov.ch · Jul 31

If you like flies, this is for you. If you don’t, even more so. Either way, you should get it RIGHT NOW!

Michael Frei 🪰 @michaelfrei.io · Jul 31

Time Flies has landed!

Now available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Mac/PC.

timeflies.buzz 🪰

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jul 24

The second one!

Basically all the late game levels rely on "play the sections in a specific sequence"

The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jul 24

This is the most conceptually challenging tile in Cadence. Have been musing for years if I should even build it, and how on earth to telegraph it to users.

Fitting the last piece of content is my best work to date - really happy with the polish here.

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jul 9

On the flip-side: Vercel and on-demand deployment is a marvel of the modern world 😍

From zero to new holding page in a couple of hours:
www.madewithmonsterlove.com

Made With Monster Love

Made With Monster Love makes software & video games for humans.

www.madewithmonsterlove.com

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jul 9

Paid Dreamhost $1000 over the last five years for a broken wordpress website because I was too lazy to port my email away from them. They rubbed salt in the wounds by making me pay an extra $20 cancellation for a "free" domain registration from over 10 years ago 🙄

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Reposted by The Funtastic

Loot Donkey @lootdonkey.bsky.social · Jun 27

Announcing our first game...
Fool King
Please join our Discord community to find out more! (Link in bio)
#indiedev #gamedev #videogame

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jun 23

Today I was brutally attacked by truth...

Adrian K. @goshki.vigeo.dev · Jun 22

Solo indie #gamedev sounds really cool until you find out it's 90% of the time deceiving yourself that your game is 90% complete.

And that completion of the last 10% takes another 90% of the time. And another 90% is hidden in the last 1%.

#indiedev

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jun 21

This has been a brutal leadership lesson:

Explaining an idea to a room full of 15 people, and getting 15 different interpretations back. Especially when nuanced.

And that was just 15, not 400! I have a lot more sympathy for the derivative nature of AAA now...

Max Nichols @maxnichols.bsky.social · Jun 20

Another HUGE factor is creative alignment and consensus on a large team.

One of the hardest problems in big teams is getting everyone working towards a shared vision, consistently. Doing this is the job of the creative director. And it's, just, logistically very hard!

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jun 7

Being an adult: having the money to buy fancy Lego.

Also being an adult: waiting a year before finding the time to start building it...

The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jun 5

I need to get over the idea I'm only capable of "programmer art". But also pulling off something you have no rights to is pure magic... perhaps I should start believing I can't program to recapture that beginners joy?

Anyway, can't close Blender, because how cute is this guy I made?!? 🥹

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jun 4

An e.g. of how mad gamedev in 2025 is:

Great, look at this niche games festival full of my prospective audience...

...with 477 niche games. That's more than the entire number of games that launched on Steam in the 2013, the year I started working on Cadence. 🪦

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Jun 3

Cadence is a minimalist zen game about solving circuits to generate music.

To find out what that means, there's a brand new Steam demo available as part of the #CerebralPuzzleShowcase by @puzzleshowcase.bsky.social!

store.steampowered.com/app/362800/C...

Cadence on Steam

Relax. Solve Problems. Make Music. Feel Nourished. Beautifully simple, devilishly clever - Cadence is the experimental sandbox game that uses problem-solving to create music.

store.steampowered.com

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · May 26

The time line speaketh:

Picture of timeline showing two negative takes of Duolingo

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Apr 25

It keeps popping up in all sorts of places! Glad it was useful!

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The Funtastic @thefuntastic.bsky.social · Apr 25

Producing promotional material is my anathema, but seeing Cadence taking its final form is slightly thrilling...

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