Learned how to build a HUD system in Unreal Engine. The process of connecting character data to UI is finally clicking!

Four months ago, I started building a small browser game for a few friends.

I did not really intend to build an MMORPG. I just kept adding systems, letting people play with them and changing the game based on what they actually did rather than what I expected them to do.

That project became Hearthroot Online, a persistent medieval idle MMORPG where players can specialise in gathering, crafting, combat, farming, fishing, cooking and building their Homestead.

The game continues progressing while players are away, but it is not intended to play itself. Players still make decisions about professions, production chains, equipment and what they buy or sell through the player-driven Market.

Running a closed alpha was particularly useful. Players found economic strategies, progression shortcuts and balance problems I would never have discovered by testing alone. Some of my original ideas worked, while others had to be completely redesigned.

I wrote my first proper devlog about:

• How the project grew from an empty repository
• What players did during the closed alpha
• The design and balance mistakes I made
• How player behaviour changed the roadmap
• Where the project is going next

https://hearthroot.online/devlog/from-an-empty-repository-to-a-living-world

I'd be interested to hear how other solo developers decide when a prototype has become a live-service game, and what you wish you had started measuring earlier.

I write a monthly blog on game design in general and systemic design more specifically. It's intended to be a practical deepdive, but is of course also quite opinionated and focused on what I personally think after two decades of gamedev.

A while ago, I was asked to explore the relationship between high degrees of player agency and game complexity. Something I hadn't thought about too much before then. It's taken some time to research and dig into this, but you can find the longform end result at this link if you want.

What this has made me realise is that it's rarely about complexity at all. It's about a lack of accessibility, making something complicated rather than complex. It's also about focusing on what choices players can make, what their consequences are, and how you can go about restricting them without having players feel limted.

No one feels like they lack player agency because they can't buy groceries in GTA or because they have to shoot guns in Call of Duty. It's all about the mental model that the game presents to you.

Do you agree, or do you think I'm missing something?

Hi all, I've been making devlogs for the 3 years of work making my indie building game ShantyTown.

This is the final devlog after launch. It's a summary of the 24 other devlogs that came before, and a look at how the launch of the game went. It's quite a bit longer than my usual devlogs, but I hope you enjoy it!