Brendan

Aussie/Kiwi in Netherlands building indie studio w/ wife (3D tactical for Steam) | Playtester & feedback | Sharing journey & build logs

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

Feeling really grateful for the accounts that have helped me learn, develop and stay curious on X 🔥

Here are some I’m especially thankful for right now (no particular order):

Up to date news, reviews and commentary:
1. @mreflow
2. @MatthewBerman

High-signal thinking on AI and building
3. @karpathy

Thoughtful tech analysis & daily AI briefings
4. @kimmonismus

Master of resets, company communication & user feedback
5. @thsottiaux

Game dev & creative tools (my dream enablers)
6. @KenneyNL
7. @Blender
8. @godotengine
9. @bazzite_gg

Lifelong tech teachers & hands-on testers
10. @NetworkChuck
11. @theo
12. @digitalix
13. @bijanbowen

Even when some topics go over my head, I genuinely enjoy following along and staying inspired.
and without all of you (and the wider open source community), I don’t think I’d be able to work full time on my dream. You made it possible.
Cheers.

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

@thsottiaux Could this mean OpenAI is building a personal AI super computer for home use?

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

I’m still amazed any of this is real.

We take sand, run electricity through it, talk to it in binary, then stack languages on top.

People train an AI on the sum of human knowledge.

That AI now teaches us about the world and each other,
helps us create tools, software, images, music, videos, assets, games and entire worlds.

And those same creations loop straight back as the entertainment we play and watch.

And the AI is already starting to teach and improve itself.

Whenever I encounter a problem in game dev, I remind myself what’s actually happening here, and how incredible it is that any of this is even possible.

It still feels like pure science fiction.
#BuildInPublic

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

Builder’s Log: weekend

Sunny stretch here in the Netherlands.

Spent most of it at the desk with a notepad.

Sketching ideas, drawing arrows, pointing at things, writing notes.

I’m terrible at actual drawing and my handwriting is not much better, but it’s clear enough for Codex to follow.

Then Flameshot for screenshots with boxes, arrows, text overlays when I upload my note pad drawings.

Such a simple tool and workflow, yet I use it just about every other day with Codex.

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

@thsottiaux Shared project memory + continuous awareness of machine-side sessions (and stronger computer use) would make the whole loop feel like one tool.

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

@Osaat_HS @OverageGmngCom No worries, thanks for being so friendly and for the clear update. :)
I’ll keep an eye on future updates (and fingers crossed for Linux/Steam Deck support down the line).
Wishing you both all the best on your journey ahead.

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

@TokenGremlin @ChrisGPT Wow that's awesome. Great results for 4hrs and a bit of tweaking. :)

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

Are we actually being productive?

If the next prompt is already researched, primed, and ready to copy over… and we’re just waiting for the AI to finish its current task… are we still being productive?

What do we do in those gaps?
House chores? Water the plants? Real-life admin? Scroll and engage on X?

Or just sit there feeling like we’re wasting time while the agents keep working?

Curious how other solo/AI-assisted devs handle the wait. #BuildInPublic

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

@OpenAI Great to see the efficiency gains being passed straight through to users.
80% off Luna + the faster Sol option is an epic win. :)

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

Those sterile hallways already feel oppressive and the emptiness and perfect symmetry are doing serious heavy lifting for the horror vibe.

By the way, is the “parasite” element more body-horror or psychological?

Also, just checked out the Steam page too. Graphics look heaps good already, and I reckon a solid pairing with a good backing soundtrack will really elevate this game.

Best of luck with your journey ahead.

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

@RiseMinnow Congrats on getting the Steam page submitted. Best of luck with your launch. 🚀

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

Thanks for the reply, that clears a few things up.

Three shifts that each feel different, with the story and endings actually reacting to what you do (and the mistakes you make), feels like a smart way to keep a short horror game from going stale.

Looking forward to seeing how the nights evolve and what those wrong boxes end up doing.

All the best with your game and its development. :)

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

@Crooked_Cats Good luck with the Steam page review. Exciting times ahead. :)

Will the page have a working demo? I’m curious to see more of what Nightbound is about and test it out.

All the best.

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

Thanks heaps for the friendly reply.
Glad the feedback was useful 🫶
Placeholders make total sense at this stage as the foundation already feels pretty decent.

Keen to see the SFX, transformation animations and UI polish come together in future updates.

All the best @eien248

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

@lukaszxlx02 Huge congrats on this milestone. Well done. :)

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

G'day @Osaat_HS,

I checked out the Steam page and the trailer for Horror Scenarios: The Redwood Estate.

The sound effects, soundtrack and visual effects are pretty good and on point.

The top-down style looks like it could be both fun and properly scary and I can already imagine my heart racing in some of those tense moments.

I tried launching the demo on Bazzite OS (Linux) but it just goes to a black screen and never loads.

I saw the Steam page lists Windows only, so I took a chance with Proton, but no luck so far.

Is the game currently Windows-only, and are there any plans to add support for Linux / Bazzite (or Steam Deck) later on?

Best of luck with your game. :)

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

@thsottiaux @airtable @OpenAI @ChatGPT

[Brendan @EspressoMagi]

Builder’s Log:

Biggest challenge right now is consistency and visibility with Codex 5.6 Ultra.

I can get him running almost 24 hours overnight no problem, but when it comes to orchestrating the DGX and the rest of the home lab (I’ve repurposed a bunch of older computers) things get murky.

One-on-one he can do jobs on those machines fine.
But when I ask him to offload work to local LLMs and actually use the resources, I have no real way of knowing if he’s doing it.

I can put my hand on the DGX and feel it’s warm so I know he’s connected, but I can’t really see what he’s doing.

I built a dashboard but it’s not always up to date even though I asked him to keep it up to date, so I’m never fully sure if old mate is telling me porkies or being truthful.