I’ve been around a few different tech startups at this point and one problem I see very often is that at some point someone says lets make this multiplayer. If your not a programmer you probably don’t know why this can be a problem and if you are your probably cringing a little bit. So…

Making a logo can be one of the toughest parts of game development. Don’t believe me? Take a moment and think about all the places that the logo for a game shows up. When you are looking to buy a new video game what is the first thing you look at? Normally the first thing you see is a piece o…

At the end of 2020 I met a ton of really cool ttrpg folks through us all having our games in a bundle that we worked together to promote. https://itch.io/b/705/ind-of-the-year-2020 Frost Bite was the only video game in the bundle so it was interesting to see other styles of game development.

Whi…

Sometimes you work for months or years on a game and when you release it- it just flops- dead in the water. Sometimes it is because your marketing is off. Sometimes the launch bugs get you. Sometimes it's just not the right game for the times. It happens. Realistically it happens far more often tha…

Sometimes you work for months or years on a game and when you release it- it just flops- dead in the water. Sometimes it is because your marketing is off. Sometimes the launch bugs get you. Sometimes it’s just not the right game for the times. It happens. Realistically it happens far more of…

Recently I ran into this fantastic resource by Erin Lux(@erinluxx) who does illustrations for Harper’s Bazaar. She was kind enough to let me post it on here. Motion graphics is something I’ve only recently become aware of due to researching key art but now that I know what it is I see i…

Dustwalker has been such a fun project. It’s the first game I did a beta test for and I was blown away by how many people volunteered to test it. I implemented a ton of cool features because of the beta testing and fixed a smorgasbord of bugs.

Only a couple more days now and everyone wil…

Key art has got to be one of the hardest things for me when it comes to game design/marketing. It’s something I have really limited experience in and it’s so different from other sorts of art.You have to think about things like margins and dimensions, leaving space for titles, and it ha…

Beta testing has been going well. So far beta testers have found several bugs and made numerous suggestions for improvement. It’s been really useful. I’ve also gotten some really positive comments about it.

Beta tester- “I’m really int…

I’ve been mulling over a game idea for several years now about a warlock who has horse familiars and lives in a dust bowl/Mongolian plans like area. I’ve used it several times in the past to practice various skills but it’s never really come together into a full game before now. F…

It’s weird to think that it’s been almost a full year since I started. I’ve accomplished so much. I published my first game, sold a few copies. I’ve been on podcasts. It’s been really cool. It’s an awesome feeling when someone asks what you do to be able to tell …

This weekend I decided to come up with a new actually proper logo for Gilded Octopus Studios. I have some super cool upcoming business opportunities, deals, and expansions in store so I needed a better logo. So I opened up Krita and went to work. I started out with a variation of a previous one whi…

Guest Post by Travis Taborek

Is this you?

You’re working 14-16 hour workdays for cents on the dollar.

You post your art and screenshots and no one notices.

Whenever you host a sale no one shows up to the party.

It’s pretty disheartening, isn’t it?

I donR…

Have you ever wondered how someone gets into making art for video games as a freelancer? Well today I have an interview with @IroPagis for you an up and coming video game artiest.

Hey. So alright, I’ll tell you about my journey, even though it’s kinda all over the place.I started …

Have you ever thought about the fact that you can’t prove that everyone experiences life and consciousness in the same way? It’s a really interesting philosophy problem and today we are talking with Edward Atkin who took this idea and made a game out of it.

Hey Gilded Octopus!

…

I did a quick interview recently with @Mattabulous_ about Millions of Minions.

Millions of Minions is a dungeon crawler, in which you must strategically command your undead minions throughout the eerie caverns. Overtime, you will traverse your way upwards, from The Deep Depths: increasing yo…

I know you all greatly enjoyed the last guest post by Travis Taborek so today he is going to be talking about a different way to get the word out about your game.

Hi! I did a guest post for GildedOctopus about influencer outreach for indie games. Today, we’ll be talking about another kind of o…

One of the biggest hurdles in indie video game making is not making video games, it’s how do you market them? You get started making them because you love video games or maybe you’re just weird like me and love programming. Video games are my way to be creative in what and how I program. Your so fu…

Well this year for black Friday I did a little sale shopping on the unity store. Using the money I’ve…

The post Black Friday Sales appeared first on Gilded Octopus.

Read more

So I published a game recently. If you haven’t heard it is called Frost Bite. It’s a snowy rogue like horror game. I’m pretty excited during the first week it was out it actually sold a couple copies but then reviews started coming in from people who had played it. Now I’ve been speed running this…

There is just something about when a game is finally ready to be released into the wild, an un-describable energy. It’s part anxiety and part excitement. You want to keep pushing it off for “one more feature” or “just a little more polishing” but you know you shouldn’t. You watch the game build an…

Just uploaded the final file for #Frostbite to Itch.io. I’m so excited about having this game finally done. Of course I’ve already got plans for a really cool winter event. It is after a very wintry survival/horror game. You can find it at https://gildedoctopusstudios.itch.io/frost-bite. Please …

I just released the first promo art for #ScaryMermaid. I am so excited about this game. I’m luck enough to be partnered with two fantastic artists for it. For this game I am partnering with the lovely artists Jess Seto who’s amazing 2D work you can find at https://l_…

By Christina Costello. 

I’ve spent the last ten years or so of my life chasing my dreams of being an actress. I’ve taken classes, workshops, worked on indie projects, not so indie projects, and more. But one of my dreams since I was a child was to be a voice actress. 

When I first found …

Sometimes my life is pretty cool. Monday I went to a coffee tasting class by myself. I tried to talk a friend into going with but she wasn’t feeling well. So coffee is grown in South America, Africa, and it’s starting to be grown in China. The reason why quality coffee is so expensive is that Asia…

Only weeks away from the launch of Frost Bite and I’m getting pretty excited:) I’ve been expanding the map because it was just a little too small which impacted the play time negatively. The new map is so huge in comparison to the old one. It’s like 6X as large. The only thing I don’t like about…

#IWantToBeAnNPC (I Want to be an NPC competition)

Ever wanted to be a character in a video game. Not just be able to create a customizable character but there actually to be cannon characters who look like you? Young or old, black white Asian, purple pink hair, you!

To celebrate the upcoming…

With my new game Frostbite nearly ready to release into the wild I’ve been thinking a lot lately about marketing. It’s an area that I see a lot of Indie developers struggling in. It’s also crazy crucial to the success of indie games. So when I saw a tweet by Travis Taborek– a Digital Marketer &am…

So far it’s been a pretty quiet and relaxed one. It’s beautifully cool and clear outside. My favorite sort of fall weather. October is by far my favorite month. I love the pumpkins and the colorful leaves. The weather is cool enough for light sweaters and cute dresses with boots.

Halloween is…

Guest Blog: Musume 

A Tale of Five Engines

Hi. My name is Rez, and I’m developing a side-scrolling action platformer named Musume. 

Before you go much further into this blog, I want you to visit my game’s website and see what I’m doing: www.musumethegame.com, and I want you to do this for…