Antiquity/Midnight Spire Games

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@midnightspire

I'm a DIY hobbyist game developer making traditional experiences, with a focus on RPGs. My new dungeon crawler, Minerva Labyrinth, is out now!

I'm just doing my best to create more old-school games. All of my games are built by hand, not by AI.

Minerva Labyrinth (Steam): https://store.steampowered.com/app/3520970/Minerva_Labyrinth/
Minerva Labyrinth (Itch): https://midnightspiregames.itch.io/minerva-labyrinth
My Games: https://midnightspiregames.itch.io
Pronouns: they/them

Public Key

npub1jqve8s23rkg0pyak3xsfaydgaq5z77wy6gqa8zqkar906e8faf6sr8eqhx

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsfqxvnc9g3my8sjwmgngy7jx5ws2p008zdyqwn3qtw3jhavn575agpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dslmv22u

Publishing to

nostr.wine

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1jqve8s23rkg0pyak3xsfaydgaq5z77wy6gqa8zqkar906e8faf6sr8eqhx

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Last Notes

2026-01-13 18:45:23 UTC

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I finally understand that Groucho Marx line: He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot.

2025-12-01 13:15:55 UTC

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I love this because it's just the perfect encapsulation of Steam and Valve.
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/115/644/487/265/412/081/original/014baf6b8a79672c.png

2025-06-29 15:08:23 UTC

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Interesting. My remote tree is sluggish, but I rarely use it or go deep into it since I have kind of adapted to not having Unity's runtime editing capabilities, so I didn't think too much about it. I didn't know it could get that bad.

2025-06-29 14:54:38 UTC

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What do you mean by the remote tree being unusable? I just checked several of my levels, and some of them have close to a thousand Node3D (counted by just filtering the scene view for t:node3d).

2024-12-10 15:50:57 UTC

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I was labeled gifted as a kid, and I've come to feel that it's just an extension of the corporatocracy. They identify kids that do well in that type of environment, pull them away from their peers, and tell them they're special and can and SHOULD achieve so much more. Literally trying to groom willing corporate slaves.
Then we grow up and find out that we're not so special and struggle as much as everyone else. How many of my coworkers were also "gifted?" Quite a few, I bet.

2024-11-30 06:25:13 UTC

A new animated hazard floor I made for a late-game area.
#ScreenshotSaturday #IndieDev #GameDev #DungeonCrawler #CRPG
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/570/457/803/851/073/original/4f5670f31b74f7ae.mp4

2024-11-26 02:44:45 UTC

A small feature that I have been thinking about for a while, which allows either a 3/2 or 2/3 party formation. Previously this was locked to 3/2 only. Seemingly a minor change to the rules, but will hopefully support some additional strategies.
#IndieDev #GameDev #CRPG #DungeonCrawler
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/546/911/602/611/032/original/96b6f5adffba482f.mp4

2024-11-21 13:42:25 UTC

Working on a new dungeon tileset. I think it's turning out decent. My crude darkness effect doesn't support real environmental lighting, but I think it's alright, especially for the mostly narrow and winding corridors that will actually make up the level. Maybe I'll try something fancier for the next game.
#IndieDev #GameDev #DungeonCrawler #CRPG
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/521/169/383/391/899/original/8937ce7aaf68a5e5.mp4

2024-11-20 14:03:30 UTC

All told, I think the conversion from Unity to #Godot took about 4 months of work, not counting hiatus. That was a lot of work, but not as much as I feared. Some things have turned out better in the new version, as well. It was hard, but I think it was the right decision.
I feel a lot better now than I did a year ago, though I'm a little bit lost now on where to pick up again, since this has been the sole focus for so long.
#IndieDev #GameDev #GodotEngine

2024-11-20 12:24:55 UTC

This week I completed a full end-to-end playthrough in #Godot of all finished content. I fixed a lot of content errors and omissions, plus a few other small bugs. There are a few minor bits left to test (I couldn't do everything in a single playthrough), but apart from that, the conversion from Unity is done and looks to be in very good shape. I am just about finished with Unity.
#IndieDev #GameDev #GodotEngine

2024-11-16 13:34:35 UTC

A quick look at the level I just finished testing in #Godot. It's dark down there.
Later, Regine's frustration begins to show in your next mission briefing.
#IndieDev #GameDev #DungeonCrawler #CRPG #ScreenshotSaturday
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/492/865/718/216/922/original/46029e3ab2bc5bcb.png
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/492/883/620/650/623/original/5eb02223785164b2.png

2024-11-15 14:13:40 UTC

Unity brought my forward progress to a halt a year ago, but now that that problem is almost over, I have to figure out where to start again and how to rebuild momentum. It has been a long time since I have worked on the game and not the conversion.
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-11-15 11:19:33 UTC

Quickly playing through all levels of the game again to look for errors in the conversion from Unity to #Godot. There are a lot of them, mostly scripting and data mistakes, but I'm getting them cleaned up. A lot were due to me not understanding Godot's behaviors at first.
I'm still concerned about what else might come up, but I will have plenty more testing to do before the game is finished, so I'm sure I will catch them eventually.
#IndieDev #GameDev #GodotEngine

2024-11-11 20:30:20 UTC

It's a boring screen, but this options menu was the last piece left to convert from Unity. Everything has now been migrated into #Godot, plus a few bonus features (like these volume sliders) and much cleaner architecture to boot.
I still need to do a full test run to make sure everything is in place and working, but I am very close to the end.
#IndieDev #GameDev #GodotEngine
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/466/184/522/501/266/original/99b18ca1dff678b3.png

2024-11-10 13:41:38 UTC

Here is something I've shared previously, but running in #Godot this time. This room is close to the end of the content that I finished in Unity, so I am almost done migrating it all.
Godot's sprite animation editor is way easier to use and understand than Unity's. It's hard to match the timing exactly between the two, but it wasn't precision-honed in the first place, so I just go for "good enough."
#ScreenshotSaturday #IndieDev #GameDev #CRPG #DungeonCrawler #GodotEngine
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/458/924/627/148/350/original/862f7f456a8a0d5e.mp4

2024-11-08 12:06:03 UTC

I am working on level 10, which is one of my personal favorite parts of the game. After this, there is only one more level to migrate from Unity, and then the move to #Godot will be very close to finished.
#IndieDev #GameDev #GodotEngine

2024-11-07 14:25:11 UTC

I looked back at my paper designs for 12F and 13F, which I drew over a year ago, before the Unity fiasco. Even with all of my annotations (about two dozen each), it took me some time studying the maps to figure out what it was all for and how I intended them to be solved. I guess that's good? It shouldn't be too obvious, but I could probably have left slightly more comprehensive notes for myself.
#IndieDev #GameDev #DungeonCrawler #CRPG

2024-11-03 01:44:58 UTC

It is not very exciting to look at, but I am extremely happy to have control rebinding done. I was dreading doing this, but it turned out to be easier and more comprehensible than doing it in Unity, except that the trigger buttons are still bullshit. I put some restrictions on them to avoid problems. Why are they like this? Who ever asked for analog buttons?
There is room for improvement on this, but it's good enough for now.
#IndieDev #GameDev #Godot #GodotEngine #ScreenshotSaturday
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/416/460/350/944/256/original/82c4fd0cf83ce013.png

2024-10-31 12:44:22 UTC

I was thinking about a way to restructure my equipment data that would probably reduce my manual workload and open up some new options...
...so I marked it as something to revisit in my next game and moved on. Good enough is good enough.
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-10-27 18:54:14 UTC

Having trouble understanding #GodotEngine behavior.
I instantiate Scene A, click editable children, and add a new child node, which I place in between two existing children. This works fine.
I instantiate Scene B, click editable children, and try to do the same thing. In this scene, the new node always saves at the end of the child list, rather than in the middle where I put it.
What causes this discrepancy in behavior?
#Godot #IndieDev #GameDev

2024-10-25 23:19:24 UTC

The projects that inspire me the most are not the overglossed megastar success stories. I know I can't do that. They're the scratchy zero-budget ones you've never heard of that still made it to the finish line and are still good games. Those are the ones that make me think "if they can do it, so can I."
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-10-12 23:12:56 UTC

I used scriptable objects (Unity), now resources (#Godot), for game state variables, e.g. if a switch has been activated or not. I migrated a small early-game batch by hand, but today I wrote a pair of small scripts to export them all from Unity and import to Godot. Turns out there were almost 500 of them left to migrate, so this probably saved a lot of manual effort.
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-10-12 08:48:25 UTC

Progress in migrating from Unity to #Godot.
Left: The reconstructed and fully functional headquarters map, which is the central hub of the game.
Right: The first dungeon level, with geometry fully reconstructed but scripted events not yet migrated. Recreating a more complex map from the Unity editor was a bit tricky, since it's easy to overlook things. They get more complicated from here.
#IndieDev #GameDev #GodotEngine #ScreenshotSaturday #IndieGame #IndieGames #CRPG #DungeonCrawler
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/293/461/681/474/847/original/e54fc6f8a1767233.png
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/293/462/277/757/535/original/ed4365ca803a348a.png

2024-10-08 15:40:40 UTC

I got the shop interface migrated from Unity to #GodotEngine. This was a big chunk of GUI-heavy functionality that I wasn't looking forward to revisiting, but it wasn't as bad or as time-consuming as I feared, and the new implementation is a bit cleaner than the old one. This is another big step towards getting all features reimplemented in #Godot.
#IndieDev #GameDev
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/272/519/958/826/277/original/8324249d24b52484.png

2024-10-02 06:57:04 UTC

Fascists: "If you want representation then go make your own games!"
Everyone else: *literally does that*
Fascists: "NO!! STOP!!! STOP IT!!!!"
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-10-01 06:10:48 UTC

How woke does my game have to be before I can call it a #Wokot game?
#IndieDev #GameDev #Godot #GodotEngine

2024-10-01 05:47:45 UTC

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Also, it turns out that I actually did get a lot done last year before I burned out. It felt like quicksand at the time, but my tutorial level is almost completely back up and running now, so what I had was pretty close to playable. Stepping away for a while was probably what I needed, though.
#Godot #GodotEngine #IndieDev #GameDev

2024-10-01 05:39:25 UTC

My current experience with #GodotEngine has been more positive than last year's. 4.3 has been a lot more stable for me than 4.1, and I am learning to adapt to Godot's constraints and ways of doing things. Plus, my lengthy time away has helped cool my temper about migrating from Unity.
#Godot #IndieDev #GameDev

2024-09-28 11:45:41 UTC

Rebuilding the very straightforward intro / tutorial level, the subway, in #GodotEngine . Geometry is done, with most of the events and scripting left to do. Not all gameplay features are migrated yet, but this level doesn't need all of them.
It's not a lot of fun to have to revisit this level yet again, but it gives me a break from raw coding, and also helps me flesh out my workflow, my library of placeables, and any crucial missing pieces.
#Godot #GameDev #IndieDev #ScreenshotSaturday
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/214/967/474/547/074/original/709201090eb63a70.png

2024-09-24 04:32:09 UTC

Oh - you CAN add a null key to a C# dictionary in #GodotEngine . You have to select "Object" (NOT "Nil") as the key class, and then leave the key as null. Weird, but OK.
#Godot #IndieDev #GameDev

2024-09-22 17:15:23 UTC

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Step five: get back to work and get the next feature migrated. Done. I got cursor memory (mostly) working, since it was a small enough thing to work on, and because not having it implemented was annoying me.
It's been ten difficult months since I last made any progress, but I should be ready to get going again.
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-09-21 15:00:26 UTC

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Step four: actually identify and commit a (tiny) functional change. Done. yaaay
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-09-21 13:33:39 UTC

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Step three: get Godot set up and working and get the project running again. Done, I think.
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-09-20 10:48:18 UTC

Try not to put too much pressure on indies to make OUTRAGEOUS ART that THE SUITS CAN'T HANDLE. Speaking for myself, it's rather discouraging. I'm not trying to break the mold, I'm just trying to make stuff that I think is fun.
#IndieDev #GameDev #Gaming

2024-09-19 11:19:39 UTC

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Step two: install the correct versions of Unity and Godot. Done. I can barely remember what I'm looking at, but it's done.
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-09-15 08:15:28 UTC

I've been stuck in the living room with my laptop (which is not set up for development) for the past few months, so I haven't had ready access to my projects. Another small hurdle in my path.
OK then. Step one: download Git and clone my project repos. Done.
#IndieDev #GameDev

2024-08-25 11:12:43 UTC

Part of what is making it difficult to pick up my project again is how frustrating it was to convert to #Godot. I found Godot to be fairly hostile to the way my code and game data were structured in Unity. I had to alter my code and workflow in annoying ways, and I can't totally remember now what I did or where I left off. This PC isn't set up for game dev yet.
It looks like generics might at least be fixed in 4.3, but I've already worked around not having them.
#IndieDev #GameDev