Small Updates (Mar 20, 2026)

I also added some new features to this website’s game gallery: it lets you filter the games by different criteria. I also added another criteria which I’m calling precision, which is basically how strict the game’s controls. Some games have low precision (e.g. they’re mouse only and you can play at any pace you want), other games have higher precision (e.g. they need both mouse and keyboard and you have to play quickly and accurately). I added this because some games (such as Relentless Waves) can have low complexity (they’re easy for a new player to learn what’s going on), but have high precision. One way this is useful: if you sort the gallery by low complexity, low precision, single player only, and the highest ranking of 5, you get All Shapes and Sizes, which means that’s the game that I can recommend to the most people.

I added 2 more minigames to Many Minis, now renamed to Four Games at Once (and updated the build on itch). I think I’ll just make 2 more games and then officially release the game, I don’t know if I want to make more. I went ahead and made a logo for the game, since I will have to do that anyway. One nice thing about the website revamp is that I don’t have to make a new page for this game, all I have to do is input some information about the game and the page is generated for me.

I also thought more about the other game idea I had, where the controls change as you play. I decided not to include it in Four Games at Once, because I decided that I didn’t want keyboard controls in this game. If you press a keyboard key for 1 minigame, that would also apply to another minigame, and I didn’t want that. It also just seemed too complicated to explain that a keyboard key only applies to the game your mouse is in. I also still want to one day figure out if there’s a way to turn that concept into an actual game.

Finally is music. Most of the new lofi geek albums haven’t impressed me too much, but these two aren’t bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q_6qRXgLjI&list=OLAK5uy_nbm5vFtO6U038kjUBjmlQhoMHay_Jhd4A, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckhE70HrUdk&list=OLAK5uy_lEcrg6q4O96iYi-C6n3KpRt8jJOLEO3k0&pp=0gcJCbUEOCosWNin. I’ve also been enjoying the sequel to daidaidaidaikirai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgxOQjYBmss

Many Mini Things (Mar 13 2026)

The title of the post is a pun. Many Minis is at the point where it has 4 minigames, which means I could now properly try the game as intended. For a while it was only at 3 minigames, and it was already super difficult. I made the game easier and easier and now I’ve managed to beat it a few times. The plan now is to add more minigames and then officially release it. I also want to allow 2 options: one where you play 4 games at once and see how many you can beat, and another where if you fail one you just fail everything immediately. Each minigame also needs better visuals. But you can try it out for yourself here (the password is SecretGame): https://dz-tt2195.itch.io/many-minis.

I also redesigned the rest of this website. I discovered that you can have dynamic pages, where you make just 1 page template, and the website fills in different elements with data from a table. I did that for all of my games, and I like how it looks. I also added information to each game, such as how long each session of it takes to play and how complicated the game is for new players. And if I want to add more things, it’s much easier to edit one page than to edit all of them.

I also did a little thinking on the 2 slideshows I wanted to make. I think it may be better to merge them into one, and have the slideshow be about the exact kind of game I like to make. While doing that thinking, I thought about roguelite games as a point of comparison. Roguelites are basically games where every time you play it, you get randomly generated content, which sure sounds like the kinds of games that I make. It would certainly be easier to say that I enjoy and make roguelite games rather than any longer explanation. The thing is though, while roguelites have things I enjoy, there are parts that I don’t like, which makes me unwilling to say that I want to make those games. 

1. They usually have permanent upgrades, which I don’t enjoy. It feels too much like grinding, and I’d rather just restart from a clean slate. 

2. I also don’t like it when each attempt can theoretically go on forever, I’d rather just reach a win condition and restart. In fact I can only go for 30 minutes at a time before I want to restart.

3. A lot of them let you choose which bonus you want, and I don’t want that. While it may sound like you get to choose combos, I don’t like that you always end up sticking with the best combos, and ignoring everything else.

4. Finally I don’t like getting to set up my character. Both for the issue mentioned above, but also It’s too much time spent on not actually playing the game. I just want to get right into the gameplay. 

That’s why I like Dominion so much, it avoids all those issues. No permanent upgrades, there is a clear end condition and reasonable game length, no ability to choose which cards show up each game. This is also why I made the design choices I did with Randomly Generated RPG. I consider that game to be more similar to Dominion than to any roguelite game, even though they’re not even the same genre.

Design Doc (Mar 06 2026)

The design document for Randomly Generated RPG has been written: https://rb.gy/ohntke. Most of it was written on saturday to tuesday. At first there were almost no images in it, but I decided I had to add them to avoid every slide being paragraphs of text. It was fun to do, although I don’t think any of my other games will get their own design document, it’s only Randomly Generated RPG that had a lot of things to talk about. And if I ever think of something else to write (or if I ever make another large update to the game), I can go back and add it.

One consequence of writing the design document is that it made me want to change some things in the game. The main change is that, instead of the Knight only attacking grounded enemies, it can attack enemies that are at the same position as it. I talk about it more in the design document, but the short version is: it’s more flavorful, and it makes other abilities that affect position more impactful. I also decided to change the first 2 waves of the game. Basically, wave 1 is now only 1-star enemies, and wave 2 is only 2-star enemies.

I’ve put more thought into Many Minis (my name for the game where you play 4 minigames at once). I think my plan will be: you’re playing 4 randomly chosen minigames at once, and you play for 2 minutes straight. Some games want you to survive for that long, and other games need you to successfully do something before time runs out. In a way it can be like a sequel to Memory Tiles, which is also a collection of minigames. Except this time I think I can do it better, as playing multiple easy minigames at once will be more interesting than playing them one by one. I think I will still have a way to practice individual games, but the main game is still playing 4 at once. The goal is to try to get the game out by the end of March.

Also since my games support uploaded translations, I wrote a guide on how to do it: https://rb.gy/5nu3h1.