Late nights some of the times ๐ I have a few things set up to ping me when things require my attention, and protocol in place for when things fail, and I use CC Channel when I am out and about. Our community on Discord has been incredibly helpful to help anyone out with issues and flag issues to me
I've been a sole dev on BattleTabs (a live service game) for the past 18 months as a non-technical producer. Ended up building a workflow centered around #ClaudeCode
Sharing what I've learned. First: running Claude Code without guardrails, safely
#gamedev #claude
open.substack.com/pub/thebrand...
Hah so true! Our last hour of the session was mainly combat, which required less narrative mental power. Perhaps some hooks for players to roleplaying among themselves to give ourselves a break would be good ๐
Players all got into roleplaying right away and enjoyed the freedom and speed of combat encounters. We'll certainly be revisiting this again!
It also felt less โDM vs PCsโ in encounters. Perhaps because the game isnโt set up as โdefeat the baddiesโ as the goal. And since I donโt come with a predefined narrative, I donโt have a strong preference how things go - we are all finding out what happens as we play.
Running the game: it felt like there was very little down time as the referee (DM). I was constantly looking stuff up on the random tables, thinking through actions / consequences and trying to connect the dots. It felt quite full-on and mentally stimulating (in a good way).
Mythic Bastionland 1st session hightlights (thread):
I love how how the story quite literally unfolds at the table through the roleplaying, dice rolls, and a ton of improv. Incredble how much story can evolve from just a couple of sentences to start with.
#TTRPG #mythicbastionland
Cover of the book Mythic Bastionland
Going to run Mythic Bastionland for the first time. Very exciting!
#ttrpg
Ooh yeah I totally missed this! good one I gotta check it out
On-boarding was very different back then. Get your printer ready!
(revisiting Heroes of Might and Magic III)
#gamedev
The feeling when I work on user authentication and account sync on a cross-platform game
#gamedev
A timeline visually representing the advice from my post, emphasising how dramatically and reliably having more time, with a testable build, converts to your game being better and your studio being safer.
I've been running an indie games studio for 15 years now, and it felt like a good time to boil down what I've learned into 4 pieces of advice:
www.pentadact.com/2026-01-08-1...
I hope it's of use, not least because goddamn I forgot how long blog posts take to write.
According to the National Archives, this is the very first image of Santa Claus to appear in Japan in 1900.
His name name was too foreign sounding so the author called him ไธๅคชไน้ (ใใใใใใ)
dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1168287/...
Word-game designers worldwide celebrate the birth of the crossword puzzle today, invented on 21st Dec 1913 by one Arthur Wynne.
#gamedev
I printed some D20 baubles for my D&D group last week - uploading the models to share if anyone's got a 3D printer and in need of a last minute gift for a TTRPG friend!๐
makerworld.com/en/models/21...
#dnd #d&d #ttrpg #3dprint
I keep Caves of Qud open at all times. It's the perfect 20-second break when I need to look away from the IDEโthe best cure for IDE fatigue.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nG-...
#gamedev #cavesofqud #coq
Had a long list of things I wanted to improve in the game and couldnโt decide. Then this morning, staring at the build, a thought hit me:
What does the game want?
Not what players want or what devs want, but what the game itself is asking for.
Feels like the answer might be hiding there
#gamedev
Nothing makes you feel older quite like returning players describing the game as โnostalgicโ ๐
#gamedev
I pushed out a new season update for BattleTabs yesterday - a weight off my shoulders!
I love seasonal content in live service games, but it definitely adds a certain amount of stress for devs.
Glad it's shipped & the community seems to like it so far!
battletabs.com/blog/2025/11... #gamedev
Closing in on 6m
#gamedev
My latest deep dive into a closed game/studio examines the fall of Phoenix Labs and Dauntless, and the three lessons the team learned from the experience.
I hope you get something out of the story.
80.lv/articles/les...
Nostalgia overdrive ๐ฅ
Love to find out more!
Between reconnecting with peers, giving a talk on our journey with BattleTabs, and enjoying Kรถlsch, some reflections from Gamescom 2025: thebrandonwu.substack.com/p/passion-pe...
#gamedev
I've been printing custom D&D miniatures for a campaign I was DMing. Pretty new to 3D printing but decided to share the models! You can find them here: makerworld.com/en/@thebrand...
#3dprinting #dnd #miniature #D&D #ttrpg
Thanks - and love your pixel art pieces!! ๐ฅ ๐ฅ ๐ฅ
Fandom drives creation
#gamedev
Fans, what do I do without them โค๏ธ (from our discord community discord.com/channels/770...)
#gamedev #fanart #battletabs
Polaroid's knocked this one out of the park
#polaroid #creativeadvert
