Tom Brien

Can't believe I didn't put sleeping in sooner. It's so cute to find an animal sleeping in some flowers

I implemented sleeping and immediately found it very cute and funny #gamedev #gameart #indiegames

Tom Brien reposted

TimOfLegend

@timoflegend.bsky.social

10 Sept

Of all the things they required of me while we were part of Xbox, I think the one I’ll miss the most was driving Phil around.

31 Aug

I made an animation for fast-travel, but unfortunately it's too sick and badass for this chill game 🤣 I gotta come up with something more relaxed, so say goodbye to star-gate teleporting #gamedev #indiegames #gameart

13 July

Making a pretty book as a codex of features for players to check out if they took a break! (not finished yet, contains typos) #devlog #gameart #indiegames

22 May

Players wanted a map, so I tried to make this in-world solution that wouldn't feel like a UI screen. #gamedev #gameart #indiegames

19 May

I'm doing a pass on the game where any important sound sources have visual indicators if you're not looking at them. I just find players don't hone in on sounds very well, and now the game's more accessible for people who can't hear anyway. #gamedev #gameart #indiegames

Tom Brien reposted

Catsuka

@catsuka.bsky.social

5 Jan

From the intro animated by Yoshiki Imazu for "Toyotomi Brothers!" new live-action drama (episode 1). yoshikiimazuanimation.tumblr.com

24 Mar

I want players to pick up resources while rock-climbing. One big problem though: Nothing grows out of a vertical rock wall. No flower, mushroom or fruit likes to do that. Surely there's something 🤔

One crazy thing I never hear people talk about is how games look so different when WATCHING them vs PLAYING them. 1/3

But I'm playing it myself now, and my eyes are locked on a 1-inch collectable ahead of me for the whole game. I literally don't see the optimisations happening around it. In my memory it's a different looking game. 3/3

I'm sure great art directors and optimisation programmers know this and use it in their decisions. Hopefully I'll figure it out aswel. 4/3

One crazy thing I never hear people talk about is how games look so different when WATCHING them vs PLAYING them. 1/3

I saw my wife play Pokemon Arceus and there's tiling textures and models popping in like crazy. It looks so empty it's nuts. 2/3

11 Mar

Finished the UI for the Season change-over screen #gamedev #devlog #gameart

4 Mar

I don't have a cool game update for today, so here's just an unlabelled clip of me testing some fog effects. #gameart #devlog #indiegames

2 Mar

Do I have to play Resident Evil Quim before I play Requim

26 Feb

I found people like when the animals interact. So here's a bear getting sprayed by a skunk. #devlog #gamedev #indiegames

Wild Vector Games | Orbifold

25 Feb

Today I'm just getting sprayed by a skunk over and over again. #devlog #gamedev #indiegames

Tom Brien reposted

@wildvectorgames.bsky.social

24 Feb

Check out Orbifold on Kickstarter for combat in inverted spherical worlds! #gamedev #indiedev #gaming #kickstarter

As Phil Spencer is retiring from Xbox, I'll never forget this funny story about him: 10 years ago we went to PAX to show games, and were invited to show SpeedRunners in the Xbox section. I manned the booth for an afternoon and was told to keep an eye out for Phil Spencer...

If you google "Phil Spencer" with a British account in 2013, the first few results were photos and interviews with the host of Location Location Location, Phil Spencer. So that's who I was looking out for.

It turns out I HAD met Xbox's Phil Spencer while standing there, and talked to him about our game being on Xbox for 15 minutes. No idea who he was, I thought he was just some dude at PAX who loved Xbox.

After standing there for 2 hours, our staff came back and said "You missed Phil! I got a call saying nobody was there, you fucked this up!!" but I'd been there the whole time and Phil Spencer had not shown up. So what happened?

I've made a decent implementation of a Teleport To Quarantine now, and I have a lot to say about it: (thread 1/6)

Tom Brien@tombrien.bsky.social

I've got a bit of a design issue: Players are telling me they want to CATCH the animals. I get the compulsion: collecting stuff on a map and filling your base is satisfying. I prototyped it... 1/3

-Players liked seeing a named animal again and again for days in a row. Now they don't, because animals go to the zone (which you never need to visit) as soon as you help them. Recognizing animals that you had gameplay fun with was an emotional high-point, and I really don't like that being gone.

So overall this was an easier implementation than I thought, but there's room to make it slightly better.

I've made a decent implementation of a Teleport To Quarantine now, and I have a lot to say about it: (thread 1/6)

Tom Brien@tombrien.bsky.social

I've got a bit of a design issue: Players are telling me they want to CATCH the animals. I get the compulsion: collecting stuff on a map and filling your base is satisfying. I prototyped it... 1/3

...The closest worry is that I don't like pulling an animal away from "their friend" or "their family" when there's more than one around. This is emotional, but I more blame myself than the game, because I do have the power to keep them together.

The Bad: -You do EMPTY the map of gameplay elements. That's really bad. I might just have to stuff the world with twice as many animals to make sure this doesn't happen, because wandering around with no animals for 5 minutes is a very good reason to quit and uninstall the game.

I've made a decent implementation of a Teleport To Quarantine now, and I have a lot to say about it: (thread 1/6)

Tom Brien@tombrien.bsky.social

I've got a bit of a design issue: Players are telling me they want to CATCH the animals. I get the compulsion: collecting stuff on a map and filling your base is satisfying. I prototyped it... 1/3

-The animals leave the island and new ones arrive every 5 days, so nobody's trapped anywhere forever. They don't look like they're in a prison or a zoo.

-I was worried I'd be pulling a fox away from their burrow or a bird away from their nest. My head is in gameplay-mode enough that I actually don't think about that in practice...

I've made a decent implementation of a Teleport To Quarantine now, and I have a lot to say about it: (thread 1/6)

Tom Brien@tombrien.bsky.social

I've got a bit of a design issue: Players are telling me they want to CATCH the animals. I get the compulsion: collecting stuff on a map and filling your base is satisfying. I prototyped it... 1/3

-I was worried it would feel like you killed or destroyed the animals, but I don't really feel that way in practice.

-The Quarantine Area is big and pretty enough that it feels nice for the animals to live there. There's a beach, there are flowers, there's variety, it's big, you can see the sun set, thumbs up.

I've made a decent implementation of a Teleport To Quarantine now, and I have a lot to say about it: (thread 1/6)

Tom Brien@tombrien.bsky.social

I've got a bit of a design issue: Players are telling me they want to CATCH the animals. I get the compulsion: collecting stuff on a map and filling your base is satisfying. I prototyped it... 1/3

The Good: -The collection gameplay feels compulsive, which I think is good. It feels more satisfying to cure an animal because they blast off and now they're gone. They've been COMPLETED. 2/6

18 Feb

I've got a bit of a design issue: Players are telling me they want to CATCH the animals. I get the compulsion: collecting stuff on a map and filling your base is satisfying. I prototyped it... 1/3

18 Feb

I prototyped teleporting animals to your base when you cure them, and it's true, spotting and collecting a rare albino fox feels better than giving it medicine and seeing it continue wandering around with a tick on it's name. However... 2/3

18 Feb

Then I'm taking animals out of a forest and putting them into a zoo. It turns into a poaching game. This sucks! Tracking animals feels more compelling and has higher stakes, but also you're a bastard. Will prototype this more 🤔 3/3

17 Feb

I'm not supposed to be adding mechanics any more, but a Disguise Bush was too fun to play with, it's going in. #devlog #gamedev #indiegames

13 Feb

I moved some sliders and accidentally put the player's house in a cloud today. Damn this looks awesome though, maybe I should keep it! #gamedev #devlog #indiedev

9 Feb

Just found out the game I designed this year is basically "Pokémon Arceus with real animals". Research quests, bait, pokedex, sneaking, catching, crafting, alphas, research base... wow! #devlog #gamedev #indiegames #pokemon

9 Feb

On the one hand I feel silly for thinking my concept was so unique. But on the other hand I was having a hard time telling people what type of game it was! So I'm pretty relieved that I have a clear touchpoint now and there are 10 million people out there who will just get it right away.

31 Jan

Doing graphic design for 20 individual books because my idiot past self decided immersion was an important feature #devlog #gameart #gamedev

28 Jan

The cabin house is almost done! If you go in there at a certain time of day you get to see the cool sun-beams coming through the window. #gamedev #gameart #devlog

20 Jan

Areas of the world map can now flood when it rains, changing how you and the animals navigate across seasons! #gamedev #indiedev #gameart

19 Jan

Added support for wide monitors and wow, yeah, instantly get why people buy these things! #gamedev #indiedev #gameart

7 Jan

woops I nerfed the tiger #gamedev #devlog #gameart

6 Jan

Back to work, and the tiger is in! #gamedev #gameart #devlog

26 Dec 2025

A new painting made and handed in for my baby nephew!

22 Dec 2025

Pausing game work for Christmas now. Recently been hung up on tiny things to avoid negative reviews, like "Hands don't even get wet when you swim" or "Aliasing visible on inventory screen". I'm gonna just get back to adding more animals in January. The game is about animals.

2 Dec 2025

Update on the rain: It's almost done! #gameart #indiegames #devlog #gamedev

Tom Brien@tombrien.bsky.social

I have camera depth, world position and noise, so figured I could render some kind of screen-space rain in 3D. Turns out it's really difficult to figure out. I guess I'll just use particles like a regular guy😢 #devlog #indiegames #gameart #gamedev