Pixel Cows

Darkness Revealed: A diver is stranded on the bottom of the ocean. It doesn't take him long to learn that the lack of light is not the worst kind of darkness.

[Pixel Cows @pixel_cows]

This is us in a nutshell. Nice to meet you! :)
https://t.co/Qdn8umdKjX

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

And btw @mikeBithell just released The Solitaire Conspiracy, probably one of the most unique takes on this type of game ever. Everything he does is awesome, so make sure to check it out here! https://t.co/vzESu002Xw

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

Just started broadcasting a Pro Indie Dev interview with the incredibly insightful @mikeBithell! It's full of awesome #gamedev career advice for indies and people looking to work in game companies. Check it out and pls share! https://t.co/iIrm0du758

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

Going live NOW to talk about making money as an indie developer: the main ways + pros and cons and tips for each, based on decades of accumulated experience from many other professional indies. Pls RT if you think this can be useful to other developers! :) https://t.co/F4B04Au52x

[Pixel Cows @pixel_cows]

Really looking forward to Iconoclasts! Congratulations @konjak for persevering for this long and bringing this game into reality! You are an inspiration to all of us indies <3 https://t.co/sKuNI4htHJ

[Joakim 'konjak' Sandberg @konjak]

I'll give away 1 Steam copy of my new game releasing next week: ICONOCLASTS - a game inspired by games like Metroid Fusion, where you use a wrench to solve problems and defeat your enemies!
Retweet and follow before January 23rd (the release date!) for a chance to win!!

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

@roncarmel @aireye @mwegner @Capy_Nathan @Jonathan_Blow @TommyRefenes @noel_llopis @jaredtyeager @IanHardingham @ADAMATOMIC @BexSaltsman @shillbarmel @Wolfire @ColinNorthway @Sarah_Northway @MareSheppard @raiganburns @tha_rami @wolfirejohn @andyschatz is that everybody? :)

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

Hey, people behind Indie Fund! For 8 years you helped bring some of the coolest indie games to life. In the name of indie devs and gamers alike, here's a small "THANKS FOR BEING AWESOME" gift! :)

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

So take a deep breath, allow yourself the peace of mind required for any creative work, and tackle gamedev as the long term strategy game that it inevitably is. Balance short, mid and long term priorities, and have the wisdom and maturity to respect those decisions.

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

So, no matter your situation, you must keep your cool. Seriously, just chill, dude! You WILL BE ALIVE next month! You will be alive next year! Your life will NOT be ruined if your game fails, or if it takes 6 more months than planned! You will be all right!

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

Yeah, of course there are moments we need to rush. But being in a CONSTANT RUSH mindset keeps you from having the peace of mind required to tweak your design, prototype stuff, refactor code and all those extremely important things that avoid a trainwreck further down the road.

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

When your game feels broken, you postpone the pain by blaming things that are not yet done. Eg. "Of course the gameplay isn't fun! That's because I haven't implemented story yet, which will give context to the gameplay and make everything fun."

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

Because you feel like you must "finish the game as quickly as possible", you force yourself into a 'stick to the plan no matter what' mentality that can have you insisting on something that is broken (either technologically, or due to some bad design choice)

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

But in truth, thinking like that will only make you blind to your game's shortcomings (it's too painful to see them), and will make you come up with excuses to avoid receiving real feedback

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

The "all or nothing" mindset is a dangerous mental trap that will keep you in a permanent short-term mentality. Sometimes they will think "I've bet everything into this project, so it needs to succeed at any cost, and it has to be now, with no further delays"

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

In indie #gamedev, even THINKING that your whole life and reputation depend on your current project will make it fail, almost 100% guaranteed

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

Hey, devs! A lot of indies ask me for advice on how to fix their #gamedev projects, and sometimes I have to answer "the best thing you can do is to start over". They despair and say their lives depend on that project. Well, this is an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS mindset!

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

tl;dr: Here I will post the stuff that matters to GAME DEVELOPERS, that people ask me privately but I never shared through the @pixel_cows handle because many of its followers are not developers and wouldn't care / understand. So drop me a follow if that's your kind of stuff! :)

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

Here I'm going to share the stuff that people usually come ask me in PMs, such as our tricks for consistently ranking in the Top 1% in @ludumdare, making awesome prototypes very quickly, Steam data breakdowns showing trends + the spreadsheets that I use, etc.

[Gabriel Dal Santo @gabdalsanto]

Hello, everybody! It's a new year, and time to finally migrate to this new Twitter account! Many of you will know me from @pixel_cows. I created this new handle so that I can post stuff that doesn't fit into the 'updates about our games' tag, LIKE WHAT?

[Pixel Cows @pixel_cows]

@riadd lol, no worries, it was really busy for us too up until Friday! Anyway, what's your email? Or just ping me at gabrielATpixelcowsDOTcom :)

[Pixel Cows @pixel_cows]

Getting ready to pitch Darkness Revealed! Wish us luck! #gamedev