Indie Golden Age 🎮, Fake Speed Tricks ⚡, ImGui 1.92.5 👨💻
🚀 Game Dev Tech & Tools
New RealityScan Mobile Update Supercharges Phone-Based Photogrammetry
RealityScan Mobile 1.8 delivers major upgrades for mobile 3D capture on iOS and Android. It introduces three shooting modes, including AR Guidance with a live quality point cloud, plus Object and Standard modes with advanced controls and optional background removal. New Mesh Clean Up tools, focus peaking, and a Capture Interval Timer streamline both scanning and refinement. You can now also choose between watertight meshes for 3D printing or non-watertight meshes to help reduce artifacts.
Dear ImGui 1.92.5: Stability Fixes, NULL Backend, and WebGPU Updates
Dear ImGui 1.92.5 is a polish-heavy release that tightens core behavior, finally commenting out several long-deprecated APIs and fixing issues in auto-sizing, tables, InputText, and keyboard navigation. A new imgui_impl_null backend and example enable running ImGui logic with no input or rendering, ideal for tests or headless tools. Backends get notable love, especially WebGPU, now updated for Emscripten 4.0.10+, Dawn, and WGPU with extra helper utilities. The docking branch adds safer .ini handling, better unsaved markers, and robustness improvements for DX12 and Vulkan.
🎮 Game Design & Player Experience
How Devs Fake Speed: Camera Tricks, Sound, and Smart Illusions
This 80 Level update shows how game devs sell a powerful sense of speed using camera shake, FOV changes, motion blur, fast scenery, and punchy sound cues instead of just making characters move faster. It highlights clever illusions like fake rearview mirrors and indie ingenuity such as Lonely Orca’s sound design. The piece also promotes their “Smart & Silly Questions” video series, where you can ask working indie devs anything, plus more articles, courses, and community links.
Designing Peaceful Adventures: Eastshade, Glimmerwick, and Non‑Combat Game Design
Indie dev Jonas Tyroller sits down with Eastshade creator Danny Weinbaum for a deep dive into peaceful adventure design. They unpack how Eastshade built a living world without combat, from its painting loop to quest structure and “tiny open world” level design. Danny shares real numbers on budget, team size, and sales, plus Steam market research tactics and wishlist insights. The talk also covers Glimmerwick’s magic systems, innovative time design, and practical marketing and YouTube strategies.
🌱 Indie & Alternative Game Perspectives
The Indie Golden Age: Why Small, ‘Sloppy’ Games Are Winning Big
Indie marketing expert Chris Zukowski argues that despite industry doom and layoffs, we’re in a new golden age for indie games—if you’re willing to go small. He breaks down the “Great Conjunction” of rising genres like friend slop co-op, idle, horror, and grimdark casino-likes that can be built in 4–6 months and still explode on Steam. The discussion challenges the myth that you must suffer for years on a single epic and makes a compelling case for fast, fun, lower-risk projects.
New Godot Tween Guide + 30% Off Shaders Bible Bundle
Technical Artist Christophe Marois has released an interactive Godot 4.5 tween guide that takes you from the basics to advanced animation techniques, all learnable in your browser. The first version is live now, with future pages shaped by user feedback.