Throughput
@throughputgame.bsky.social
A hyper-abstract city sim where every entity pathfinds to the beat and the soundtrack pulses with your city. Zone, build, watch it breathe. Wishlist now on Steam -> https://store.steampowered.com/app/4535370/Throughput/ throughput.gg
New version of the Throughput demo is now available! (Go see the new water shaders, they're way cooler live!) Playtest is also kicking off, with limited slots! If you'd like to try out the blazing-fast native core, positive aura, or just hear some new music, please join the discord #indiegames
Throughput on Steam
A hyper-abstract city sim where every entity pathfinds to the beat and the soundtrack pulses with your city. Zone, build, watch it breathe.
store.steampowered.com
Routing algorithms decide where warehouses rise, which streets carry the trucks, whether Google pours traffic down your block, whether your corner store survives. The map stopped following the territory a while ago; now it writes it. #gamedev
How Routing Writes Reality
Welcome to the Desert of the Real
entanglement.games
Last week NY was overtaken by wildfire smoke. As an individual I feel powerless against forces bigger than myself. But in truth, it’s an opportunity to exercise one of our greatest superpowers as individual humans: in just observing, we find meaning even in the dynamics that are devastating.
Air Pollution and Aura
The False Dichotomy of Value Judgement
entanglement.games
Working on a water shader overhaul, please let me know: is it looking water-y? #gamedev
"I'll leave my city alone for a bit, see what happens"
Porting the Throughput core to C++ has made it so that each tick can optimize the whole map 12x over. If you want to know when to port parts of your app to a native core, check this out: #gamedev
The Traffic Marshal
Here’s why the “realism” of modern traffic simulations can be so frustrating
entanglement.games
If you didn't find anything compelling for this weekend in the Steam sale, just know you can play the Throughput demo for freeeeee It's cool and fresh and new #indiegames
Throughput@throughputgame.bsky.social · 4w agoIt's out. The demo for Throughput is live. A city sim where the traffic, the pathfinding, and the soundtrack are the same system--build the city, watch it breathe. Free to try, link's below. Go build something unexpected #gamedev #dnb
It's out. The demo for Throughput is live. A city sim where the traffic, the pathfinding, and the soundtrack are the same system--build the city, watch it breathe. Free to try, link's below. Go build something unexpected #gamedev #dnb
Throughput on Steam
A hyper-abstract city sim where every entity pathfinds to the beat and the soundtrack pulses with your city. Zone, build, watch it breathe.
store.steampowered.com
Running my own final playtests before the demo launches I have to say this game hits the flow state I was aiming for, but it's different than the classic citybuilders were. It is intense in a way I've never felt before, personally. Excited for you all to get to play tomorrow #gamedev
As game designers, we need to actively hunt and squash degenerate strategies, just like engineers do with bugs. It's one thing to think a degenerate strategy doesn't exist, it's another thing entirely to prove that it doesn't. #gamedev
Some Conditions of Macroeconomic Instability
Tynan Sylvester points out in his O’Reilly book Designing Games that designers must be vigilant for the “degenerate strategy.” It's what exploit-hunting YouTubers are hunting for, and unlike a physics...
entanglement.games
"Whenever I hear somebody say A causes B, I'm always asking myself how B comes back around to influence A again...the things that people look at when they make their decisions are the prime influencers of how the system itself changes." #gamedev
A Philosophical Look at System Dynamics
YouTube video by Donella Meadows
youtube.com
Ok people--the demo will be launching this week, despite the Mercury retrograde #gamedev
Throughput@throughputgame.bsky.social · last mo.4... 3... 2... 1...
Here's a closeup of the Julia aura (pollution) fractal beatmatched to Euphoric mode I added a more subtle version on other lenses--it really is a gamechanger for flow when actively building #gamedev
I baked a Julia fractal as an overlay to represent negative aura (aka pollution). Interfaces that meet the player where they're operating can be still be visually stunning (If you turn the sound on you'll see it's beatmatched too) #gamedev
So grateful to everyone who playtested last night, got lots of good data from every interaction Some people it didn't click for but then for some people it was clear they could go for hours One thing was clear across both groups: I can, and should, keep turning up the volume #gamedev
Have a playtest session today, any gamedevs wanna drop some tips? #gamedev
Continuing to be inspired by the graphical effect candy in Tempest--added a fullscreen distortion pulse as a reward for significantly increasing your Throughput Now this is an effect I will be keeping (p.s. sound on as always 😉) #gamedev
Experimented with additive blending today It creates glassy neon effects, but subverts how you normally expect to interpret 3D shapes. Conveys more information because you can see through buildings, but ultimately just too busy Y'all should still see it here though cuz it's neat #gamedev
mierle ukeles, maintenance art manifesto, 1969. splits everything into two drives death instinct: growth, dynamic change, your own path life instinct: maintenance, equilibrium, the eternal return the twist: Euphoria is the death drive. Degeneration is the life drive #gamedev #proceduralgeneration
just shipped a 141x performance improvement to pathfinding. 40ms/tick on a large fixture. your average website could never I want cities that fill maps without losing simulation detail. modern computers can absolutely do this, when it's the priority #gamedev
STEAM PAGE IS LIVE aaaaaa wishlist Throughput if you want a city sim that delivers electronic music neuropleasure for running it well store.steampowered.com/app/4535370/... #dnb #gamedev
Throughput on Steam
A hyper-abstract city sim where every entity pathfinds in real time and the soundtrack pulses with your city. Zone, build, watch it breathe.
store.steampowered.com
From A City IS Not A Computer: Other Urban Intelligences by Shannon Mattern "Dashboard-as-talisman" is going to be reverberating in my head
I feel really good about the decision yesterday to cut out money--with games like us, money is always annoying for maybe the first 10 minutes and then it grows exponentially and doesn't matter in the slightest. I'll find other ways to create pressure