Indie Spotlights
A fair way to support a solo developer
Wishlists, bug reports, and patience are real support. So is paying for the game. A checklist that stays decent.
Indie Spotlights
Short games and long campaigns as choices
Length is a design decision, not a measure of respect. How to tell a complete short game from a thin one.
Indie Spotlights
How local co-op shapes a small game
Sharing one screen changes camera, difficulty, and who gets to be lost. What that design choice is really buying.
Indie Spotlights
What an indie price tag is trying to say
The number on a small game is a signal about length, scope, and risk. It is not a moral score of the people who made it.
Indie Spotlights
Pixel art is a production choice
Pixels are not a shortcut around design. They are a set of limits that can make a small game clearer, or simply muddy.
Indie Spotlights
Scope versus polish in a small game
Small games cannot do everything. The interesting part is which fight they picked, and whether the result feels finished.
Indie Spotlights
How to read patch notes from a tiny studio
A small team's notes are a progress report and a promise. How to read them without filling in gaps they did not write.
Performance Tuning
Beginner mistakes when overclocking a PC
Extra speed is optional and unstable clocks are not a badge. The mistakes that turn a tweak into a bad evening.
Performance Tuning
Texture quality versus draw distance
Both settings spend performance on what you see. They spend it on different parts of the picture, and one is usually the better cut.
Performance Tuning
How to read a frame time graph
The average frame rate hides the spikes. A frame time graph shows them, if you know what the line is saying.
Performance Tuning
A checklist for a clean graphics driver update
A driver update should be boring. This checklist keeps a bad install from becoming a long evening of guessing.
Performance Tuning
Background apps that quietly steal frames
A recorder, a browser, or a store client can spend the frame time you wanted for the game. What to check.