Unreasonably excited to encounter my first armadillo since moving here. 🙀

#KatanaZERO

Came across this on my morning walk, lol. Which one of y’all freaks did this? 😆

After all these years, I can finally share the last character I animated for 'Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons' back in 2018... ...and it was Rash, from Battletoads! 💪🐸

Double Dragon Gaiden | Rash, Dave Zhang

Various animations I made for a planned DLC character, Rash (of 'Battletoads' fame) for 'Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons' by Secret Base/Modus Games, 2023. The character ultimately didn't ma...

artstation.com

Time for an art-related confession: I've seen many drawing tutorials that sketch out the entire picture before applying any inks/colors, but that's never worked for me. I can't labor over a picture that looks like shit with assurance that it will suddenly not look like shit down the line.

I had the chance to try 'Kidbash: Super Legend' yesterday, and its aesthetic has me hooked! 😍❣️ Lots of games used this clay-molded look for ads or box art, but this uses it for the entire game! Combined with the clean UI and low-framerate animation, it evokes Wii-era retro revivals in the best way.

A rare sighting of @askiisoft.bsky.social in the wild! 👀 Could this mean something…?!

귀백님🦋kubek@kubek.bsky.social · 4w ago

동네방네 다 올려야 돼 이거 카타나제로 디엘씨 실존한다고 알려야 돼

As part of its 1.0 release next month, I drew some new art for 'Haunted Heist' by @autotrophgames.bsky.social! 💎👻 It's not often I get to go back and redraw a previous piece like this, it was more fun than I expected.

Dave Zhang@godsavant.bsky.social · 7mo ago

A bit late for Steam Next Fest, but here's some Steam capsule art I drew for Haunted Heist by Autotroph Games, a zany party game where thieves try to rob a haunted mansion. I also designed the new logo!

If anyone in Austin is even remotely interested in game development, this is probably the best chance you'll EVER have to meet all of the biggest local organizations in one place. Huge thanks in advance to @owlchemylabs.com for hosting this. I'll be volunteering again, so come on down! 👋

Games Y'all@gamesyall.bsky.social · last mo.

Games, donuts, & Pride! Thanks for an amazing night! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️❤️‍🔥 Now we're looking forward to next month's CLUB NIGHT!!! 15 orgs coming together for one night only! Link to Companion App for winning prizes coming soon! 🤳 🗓️ Sep 12th 🕒 7-10pm 📍 1908 Kramer Ln, Suite 250 #gamesyall #atxcreatives #indiegame

@garybutterfield.bsky.social I was just re-listening to the Yuri’s Revenge episode and was reminded how you were dreading Tim Curry’s passing. …My condolences. 😞

Today marks the 17-year anniversary of Askiisoft’s ‘Tower of Heaven’. It was the first game project I ever worked on, and my introduction to the world of indie games. 🧵

@soundstrider.dev Happy birthday…? 😗

i appreciate that when they need to do a video game bit on game changer they seem to get actual pixel artists to do it and end up with actual nice looking sprites instead of having a mess of mixed pixel sizes like i've seen on so many tv shows lol

This morning's Secret Sauce showcase included 'John Gleep', a game I made art for! Congrats to Monthbug and @offbrand.games for the reveal. It's about a hapless alien trying to pay off space mobsters by abducting humans en masse and feeding them into a giant pachinko machine. 🛸🎰

Regarding my previous posts, now's the time to reiterate this... 👇👇👇

Dave Zhang@godsavant.bsky.social · 8mo ago

To BlueSky’s many activists: Please, PLEASE stop using AI-generated images & cartoons to promote your causes. 🙏 Creatives are a huge part of your audience on this platform. We WANT to support you in your struggles, but not when you clearly don’t care to support us in ours.

Despite the weather, there was plenty of turnout for today's #SaveOurDevs rally at BGS Austin, meant to protest Microsoft's sweeping layoffs. Heartening to see solidarity and defiance across the game industry.

Okay y'all, so about that whole thing where indie games are supposed to keep the games industry alive while AAA melts.... We really need to figure some way for indie game devs to get money DURING the process and not after. I have been working three jobs (including the game) for over two years now.

Guess I’m done buying games on PlayStation. 🤷‍♂️ I already let my PS+ sub lapse in April. When Sony first tried to shut down the PS3 and Vita stores back in 2021, they backed down due to outcry. I wonder theres still enough nostalgic cache for those consoles for it to happen again.

We want to spotlight ATX game devs and Austin based studios but it’s hard to find them online sometimes! If you or anyone know know fits that category tag/reply so we can boost you! We want to share your trailers, steam pages, progress and more on all of our socials to help uplift Austin devs!

Browsing this Steam Next Fest has fried my brain. Every third game has AI-generated capsule art and logo, all horribly stretched b/c genAI's like, "lol wtf are Layers, beep boop". Until Valve adds a 'Hide AI slop' filter, I don't think I'll be browsing new releases on Steam anymore.

Not sure if I have another replay of Persona 4 in me, but I'm beyond excited for Revival's soundtrack given how great Persona 3 Reload's remixes turned out. Gimme that Lotus Juice, babyyy~~~

During my last visit to Albany, I told my friends that 'Steamed Hams' could be the biggest pop-culture exposure that city has ever had. They had no idea what I was referring to. At that moment, I realized I might be terminally online.

I'm re-listening to Mortal Kombat: The Album in preparation to see the new movie. It's both awesome and weirdly preoccupied with the characters' ages, for some reason?

Bought my mom a Lego Botanical for Mother’s Day! After suffering the pain of stepping on my old Lego bricks for decades, now she gets to experience the zen of brick-building.

Are any of my mutuals video editors open for work? I’ve been approached by people looking for help with making trailers for their indie games, but right now I have no one to point them towards. 🤷‍♂️

If they ever make a Katana ZERO movie, please give me a small speaking cameo so I can be the worst actor in the whole film and drag down the Rotten Tomatoes score by double digits. Thanks! 😋

Today marks the 1.0 release of 'Die In the Dungeon', a dice-based dungeon roguelike by ATICO. I had the pleasure of drawing some key art for it! 🐸🎲

A package I've been waiting for a while finally arrived yesterday A person from the Katana ZERO Discord server decided to print out my Leon model, and they sent it to me!!! I'm currently researching how to paint 3D prints, I'm so hyped for this!!! Thank you!!!

Hi, just a quick question for y'all, but it's something I gotta know: Am I a frog kind of guy? 🐸 Like, do you think I have an aura that would attract frogs and frog-related media to myself? Do I exude a certain amphibious-ness?

One of the best things in games is hiding high-tier items in the starting area, letting players jump the progression curve and making replays easier. Off the top of my head, there's the Merc Suit in the attic in Stalker: SoC, the Drake Sword in Dark Souls, even the Pipe Axe in Fallout: London.