Brian's Brain

Solo game dev. I write the script, concept art and GDD, Grok helps me build it in Unreal. Follow along as my game comes to life. .

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

Tuning car damage today.

One hit at about 43 mph = roughly a quarter of the car's health gone. About 15 pistol rounds = smoking wreck.

Small drivable city, and it keeps growing. Solo UE 5.8 dev on a 2018 GTX 1060 laptop.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@oTTeuMsTudio I've also been having it teach me how to do the things as well, sometimes with screenshots. It's been great.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@not_sacke Appreciate it! I'm riding this laptop until the wheels fall off. Not ideal, but it's working so far, and Grok's been helping me optimize everything to squeeze out every frame.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

Day vs. night at the taco spot. The sign glows when the sun goes down, and so does my craving.

Solo dev building my game in Unreal 5.8 on a 2018 laptop with a GTX 1060. Tacos De Schatz is the third restaurant in my city you can walk into. Sombrero on the roof, striped awning, and a sign that lights up at night.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@Dust_WyrmStudio Small levels that are secretly brutal are the best kind. Die-to-progress puzzles hit different when the space is tight.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@creepyybread 346 days in and still showing up, respect. Baked lighting artifacts humble everybody, you're in good company.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@PumpkinKing3D Scattering the parts around the map is a great way to make people actually explore. Multiple escape routes is going to make every run feel different.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@NidalNijmGames Recreating the N64 HUD in UMG is such a cool detail. Totally agree on AI as a force multiplier, it's the only reason I can build an open city solo on a 2018 laptop.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@ChartDavidson For me it's art direction and feel. AI handles a ton of the grunt work, but deciding what makes a moment fun or funny is still 100% on me. That's the part I actually love though.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

Try Grok Bot for free for 2 weeks with my invite:

https://t.co/BOBXAEmXA1

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

Catch the fever.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

One night of optimizing my open city on a 2018 laptop:

Neighborhood: 50.8 fps to 74.6 fps
GPU time: 18.3 ms to 11.4 ms

The fix wasn't fancy. Shadows off on 109 small lights, and 147 lights fade out past a set distance. Unreal Engine 5.8, GTX 1060.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

Gave my suits proper gun handling: real rifle stance, pistol seated in the grip.

Solo dev, my script, built pass by pass in Unreal 5.8.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@elshayib_ Those look solid for that cost. I use AI for a lot of my Unreal grunt work too, and it frees up so much time for the creative side. VFX packs like this definitely have a market.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@TechSpot Great news for anyone on older hardware. I'm building in 5.8 on a 2018 laptop with a GTX 1060, and shader stutter is one of the first things I fight every build.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@badxstudio @UnrealEngine That's a huge time saver for solo devs. Rigging was always one of the biggest walls for me, and 5.8 keeps shrinking the grunt work so I can focus on the fun parts.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@RedefineFX That's so satisfying. Destruction is what makes a world feel real. I just got street lights snapping when cars hit them in my city, and I keep "accidentally" crashing into them.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@PureContender 125 days of steady progress is impressive. Facility and staff upgrades add a lot of depth to a football game.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@zushlol Basing a POI on the street dentists is such a cool detail. Building from real places makes a map feel lived in. I'm doing the same with my city, one street at a time.

[Brian's Brain @BriansBrainShow]

@BillyBonesIndie A debug arena is one of the best time savers there is. Being able to swap things and spawn enemies on the spot beats loading the full level every time.