HeyJaredThe Solo Gamedev
Hacks for learning, productivity, having work-life-passion balance and finally game development!
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 13
- Latest publication
- Sep 28, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 6, 2026
Latest issues
Where do you get learning material from? (opens the original)
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Back in 2022, in the 19th issue of this newsletter, I shared all of the YouTube channels I get learning material from. To be honest, I think it requires some updates.Of course, no set of data is complete without a news source. And for me it’s BellularNews, not the sponsor of today’s episode 😉 They publish frequently giving you insight about the gaming market. They’re also game developers themselves!And now, let me share you from whom you want to learn! (from most obvious to least obvious)Thomas
The Most Frustrating Cozy Game Ever Made (opens the original)
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I picked up Isle of Jura recently on my Steam Deck. I assumed that a cozy game would work perfectly as a return to playing games. I did not expect a cozy game to have so many little frustrations, though.It was created by one person - Ewan Mallinson aka EM Games - which makes him a person of interest for me 😉It’s one of those cozy games where you go someplace as a means of rest and do something (here: go fishing), get better, find the meaning of
I killed a newsletter after 165 weeks. To vibe code games! (opens the original)
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165 weeks. That’s how long my other newsletter lived. And like with this one - I did it without vacations. Damn, I remember curating links for it while being on vacation! 😂Back when I was in my Godot phase, I wanted to get more learning materials, so I created a curated newsletter. One with learning links.In the meantime, I decided to drop game engines like Godot, and go to game frameworks, then Rust (macroquad!), then AI, then Bevy specifically. But I still made the Godot Weekly newsletter.30 m
Don’t Build a Genre. Build a Feeling! (opens the original)
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When making games it’s very easy to default to genres. You want to make a Metroidvania, an RPG, an extraction shooter, a rogue-like, or any type of hybrid.Truth is, genres work, especially when marketing comes to play. People will find them on the shelves they want to find games. Games they like, games that are similar to games they like. It just works. But not necessarily when you’re designing your game. Then it can become a cage.When designing games, it might be better to dig deeper than the g
Why John Romero hates prototypes? (opens the original)
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You might think that each game should start from a prototype. It sounds so obvious! You could see that in the indie-darling Celeste, which was first done in the Pico-8 console.<img alt="Celeste" class="sizing-normal" height="580" src="https://substack
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