GP3 Devlog | Day 3: The Pivot & The Power of Feedback 🚦 We’ve reached the 3rd day of our intensive sprint at Futuregames Warsaw, and today provided one of the most valuable lessons in game development: Knowing when to iterate. After presenting our refined concept to the jury, we received a "Yellow Light." 🟡 While the core idea showed promise, the feedback highlighted critical "question marks" regarding our scope and mechanics. In development, a Yellow Light isn't a stop sign—it’s a call for clarity. After a long team session, we made a strategic decision: instead of forcing a fix on a shaky foundation, we are re-evaluating and pivoting to a more robust, polished concept that aligns perfectly with our 7-week goals. Today’s Focus: Feedback Deconstruction: Analyzing the jury’s concerns to identify where our mechanics lacked clarity. The Re-Design Session: Brainstorming a new direction that retains the chaotic fun of our original vision but with a more scalable technical framework. Block-out & Visual Prototyping: A huge shoutout to Shukhrat for the rapid block-out of our initial environment (as seen in the video), which helped us visualize the scale before we shifted gears. Tomorrow morning, we head back into the "War Room" for a final team meeting to lock in the new game loop. We’ll be presenting to the jury again, aiming for that elusive Green Light! 🟢 Agility is the heartbeat of indie dev. Sometimes you have to take one step back to take three steps forward. Onwards to Day 4! 🕹️ #Futuregames #GameDevelopment #GP3 #GameDesign #IndieDev #Warsaw #IterativeDesign #UnrealEngine #Pivot #Teamwork #GameDevLife #CDProjektRed

After about a year and a half of work, through attempts, mistakes, and countless iterations, I can finally share something that, for me, marks a new beginning. Project Ants started as a small idea, almost an experiment, and over time it began to grow into something more concrete: a 3D metroidvania with hack-and-slash combat. A large part of this journey took place at night, alongside my day job, through long hours spent building, refining, and questioning every element of the project. This is not something I’ve built alone: today, Project Ants is the result of the shared commitment of a 7-person team. What I’m sharing today is only a glimpse of the project, but it reflects both the path we’ve taken so far and the direction we’re trying to shape for the game. The trailer shows the first implementations of combat, atmosphere, and gameplay flow elements that are still evolving, but already solid enough to begin expressing something tangible. There is still a great deal to build, improve, and refine, but today I feel there is a real foundation to keep building on. If the project sparks your interest, you’ll find the link to the Steam page below, where you can add it to your wishlist. For us, it truly makes a difference. STEAM : https://lnkd.in/dFUw3bRw Any feedback or thoughts are more than welcome 🙏 This is only the beginning. #gamedev #indiegame #indiegamedev #UnrealEngine #UnrealEngine5 #metroidvania #hackandslash #actiongame #gaming #videogames #gamedesign #gameart #environmentart #environment #leveldesign #steam #gameplay #3d #Epic #EpicGames #projectantsgame #UE5

I am excited to announce that my pet project has officially transitioned into a product and is now available on the Unity Asset Store. After years of working with Merge mechanics, including my experience at Playrix, I’ve released Merge Toolkit - Base. My goal was to create a highly scalable foundation for any Merge game, helping indie developers and studios save half a year of routine work. Here’s what you can expect out of the box: 🧩 Advanced Chips System: - Mergeable Chips with flexible settings, including extra chip bonuses upon merging. - Generator Chips that spawn other items. - Container Chips that absorb other chips. - Power Booster Chips to accelerate adjacent chips. ✨ Juicy Effects & Mechanics: - Rich VFX and animations for strong gameplay feedback. - Blocker Effects (Chains, Boxes) to restrict chip actions and add puzzle depth. ⚙️ Extra Features: - Multi-Cell Chips that occupy more than one grid cell. - Chip Relocation that automatically displaces existing chips when a new one is placed on occupied cells. If you’re developing a Merge game, this tool stands out on the store with features that surpass competing products. And this is just the beginning! The link to the Unity Asset Store is in the comments. I would love to hear your feedback! #Unity #GameDev #MadeInUkraine #MergeToolkit #toolkit #asset

You don’t notice smooth systems. You only notice when they break. That difference is where real engineering lives. #gamedevelopment #mobilegaming #gamingtech #backenddevelopment #appdevelopment #yudiz #techinnovation #multiplayergames #gamebackend #gamingindustry #userexperience #digitalsolutions #gameengine #smoothgameplay

Meet Vishnu Bhupathiraju, Head of Operations at Kyodai Gameworks, who explains our unique game development ecosystem. We operate as a dual-function studio: The Accelerator Pod: A dedicated space for Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming and Technology students to master industry-standard processes under expert mentorship. The Studio Pod: A professional unit focused on client outsourcing and publishing high-quality internal projects. We aren't just building games; we're building the next generation of game developers. Watch the full video to see how we bridge the gap between education and industry. . . . #GameDesign #GameDevStudio #HowToBecomeAGameDeveloper #KyodaiGameworks #IndianGamingIndustry #bsp

We put in the work. Epic noticed. Piktiv AB is now a Silver Unreal Engine Service Partner, meaning we've gone through Epic Games' evaluation process and met their standards as a trusted studio partner. Years of hands-on porting, optimization, and console delivery. We've delivered games together with many partners and shipped them the way their creators intended. And Unreal Engine isn't just for games. The same expertise that gets a title through console certification translates directly to high-fidelity Enterprise Solutions: simulation, visualization, operator training, and digital twins. High-stakes environments where the cost of failure is very real. Games or not, if Unreal Engine is in your stack, or you're thinking of utilizing it, reach out to us at Piktiv! #UE5 #UEServicePartner #GameDev #RealtimeRendering #DigitalTwin #IndustrialSimulation #OperatorTraining

I just studied the recent update on Unity 2026 Game Development Report: Here are some of my key notes: 🔶52% of studios are now focusing on smaller-scale, highly-polished projects rather than chasing the Infinite Open World. 🔶Project development time has decreased due to more efficient URP (Universal Render Pipeline) adoption. 🔶The industry is cooling on scope-creep. For developers, this means a shift toward innovation over volume. We are moving away from 100-hour grinds and toward 10-hour polished experiences. #gamedev #gamedesign #unitydev #unity

Built this AI-controlled soccer system in Roblox a few years ago and recently revisited the footage. This prototype focused on creating NPC teammates and opponents capable of: • positioning intelligently • reacting to ball movement • making passing decisions • defending space dynamically • simulating team-style gameplay Looking back at older projects is always motivating because you can clearly see how your approach to gameplay programming and system design evolves over time. A lot of the mechanics and architecture ideas I experiment with today started from projects like this. Excited to keep pushing further into multiplayer gameplay systems, sports AI, and polished game-feel engineering. #Roblox #RobloxDev #GameDevelopment #GameplayProgramming #ArtificialIntelligence #Lua #ComputerScience #IndieDev #GameDev #Programming

How can we prototype LiveOps events for Hybrid-Casual games faster? 🤔 I recently built a designer-first framework for hybrid-casual live event prototyping. The goal is simple: Can we design, test, simulate, and export event configurations without getting lost in endless spreadsheets? This framework is based on an economy framework I developed in 2025. I originally built it to help quickly prototype live events during the early design phase. It currently supports event structures like: • Streak Rewards • Piggy Bank • Season Pass • Collecting Items • Rolling Offers • Race events • and many other LiveOps event types It also includes a lite economy simulation module. Even in this lighter form, I hope it becomes more useful than expected when balancing events during the prototyping phase. You can try the framework here 👇 https://lnkd.in/dh8ahGMp If you find it useful, feel free to like and share 🙂 #GameDesign #LiveOps #GameDev #HybridCasual #SystemDesign #EconomyDesign #ProductDesign