CrazyHoundGameDesign

So it has been a while since I last posted anything and I want to start by saying that I'm still here and still planning on moving forwards.  I'm still working on improving my own skills and aiming for the dream of making games that I feel are worth playing. Since my last post towards the end of last year, I have had a lot of personal stuff happening and it both prevented me from focussing on gamedev and creativity, and resulted in some major changes in my own life.  For the last 3 years I had been living in a home run by a "bad" landlord who, when challenged on the condition of the property, chose to try and evict me which, while considered illegal in the UK, is also quite difficult to prove.  Rental homes in the UK are also massively over priced, and as a low income worker, I had nowhere reasonable to go.  The result of this situation 6 months ago almost resulted in my becoming homeless, which would have meant the loss of my job, my belongings, and even my dog. Tha...

To be able to explain why I chose to give Games Development a go, I probably need to start at the beginning. Growing Up with Gaming So, at the beginning, there was the Big Bang ... I know, you've heard it all before, so I'll skip ahead a bit. I grew up in the 90's, when smartphones were science fiction and home gaming was a fairly new concept.  LEGO was the creative toy of choice, and TV was full of fantasy, science fiction, and hope for the future (that worked out).  Even documentaries were about discovering the world around us, not how much damage "we" as a species have done to our planet. The first games console I played was a SNES, and while we had a few games for it, Mario games were the main pastime.  The next one after that was an N64, my brother had a Gameboy Colour, and when PlayStation became a thing, we eventually had one of the 1st generation ones as well. This meant I grew up gaming.  Not like it is today, with online multiplayer, realistic 3D graphic...

I've had to make some changes to my blog following Google, which runs Blogger, not liking the reposting of my own posts from Itch on Blogger as well. This apparently results in a policy violation where Google thinks I've "stolen" my own posts, and considers them to be inappropriately duplicated. As a result of this, and in an attempt to remedy this violation, I'm instead including links back to the original posts from my Itch account, rather than duplicating them here. My overall aim in duplicating the Making the Dream Work series was to eventually transition to using this blog as my main blog for my GameDev activities. As Google requires the information on this blog to be "unique" and for it to "add value", the Making the Dream Work blog series will now only be hosted on my Itch account, and future blog posts and series not related to my Itch games will only made on this blog. Apologies for any inconvenience or confusion. About the Making the ...

  Logo (c) Alnutmob Studios Alnutmob Studios is an Indie Dev Duo currently working towards their first release with a "monastic management and trade simulation" game.  Their current focus on making a complete game, from mechanics to polish, and their desire to respect the player experience is an approach that already draws your attention to their game, even though it's still in production. Follow their progress at @Alnutmob   on X (twitter). Project Experience Games Released:  0 (working towards first release) Game Jams Joined:  0 "Proof of Concepts":  "A Few …" (systems, resource loops and UI to test ideas and refine main projects) Current Project Alnutmob Studios are currently developing a medieval monastery management and trade simulation game. Current Project Game Art (c) Alnutmob Studios In the game, players will oversee a community of monks who brew beer, manage production, and trade with nearby cities. The game focuses on balancing faith, labour...

Earlier, while having a look at X.com (formerly Twitter), I came across a post by another solo indie dev explaining how finishing a game as a solo indie dev doesn't really get enough praise. Finishing a game as a solo dev deserves way more praise than it gets. — CodeRed (@CodeRed_dev) October 18, 2025 It got me thinking about my own journey, and that I am, myself, nearing that point of finishing the process of making a game.  As much as I would like praise, £1 million, and a standing ovation, it's not realistic.  My only real hope is that it gets some attention and that people enjoy playing it. I have taken the relatively safe option of making a game that is quite simple in terms of design, mechanics and graphics.  It looks as it should, plays as it should and is a "game".  It might be simple and, while based on an arcade classic, has been built from the ground up. All over social media, I see people trying to make games and make progress, and the inevitable idea of...

  Monster March, my first attempt at making a game Android and Google Play store is now in its closed testing phase; a requirement of Google to be able to publish games under an individual developer account. With it being my first ever Android app, I decided to go for a game that would be simpler to build to allow me to focus on the process of getting an app published on Google Play. Monster March is a retro style arcade shooter based on a classic, with gameplay that gives all of the nostalgia of the original.  The overall aim is to keep increasing your High Score. If you want to mix it up though, you can use the options to make the game as easy or as difficult as you want, from changing the number of enemies, lives and bunker resets. The game itself, while based on a classic, has been built from the ground up with custom sprites, sound effects and music, and the ability to change up the game with a variety of options to adjust the layout of enemies, and even a "Revenge" mode...