I think 1 ultra wide + 1 portrait 16:9 monitor is a good ammount of monitors to have space for code + browser + documents, and maybe 1 extra monitor on top of the ultra wide to run the game for testing while you can still see the rest of the stuff. I currently have 1 ultra wide + 16:9 monitor and I love this setup.
2 Screens: 1 for code, 1 for the game/editor/etc. Much easier to debug. Third screen: for people working in teams so the team communication is open. If working with 1 screen only, I find the Mac is much better as it handles multiple desktops better than Windows.
Hot take on "breaking patches" - too many folks don't really code defensively. 1- They don't maintain test / archive versions, so all platform changes are pulled into master, sometimes automatically. Gotta at least make a test branch, so you can safely see what breaks. 2- Lot of "black box" plugins, SDKs, and other dependencies, that aren't staying on top of upcoming releases. It's like updating the OS before finding out if all your critical software runs on the new version. And 3- people wanting to use the shiny, bleeding-edge stuff from the Unity keynotes, even while it's still in alpha/preview. I keep my development at Current-1, and leave preview features for side experiments. Folks out here flying too close to the sun, then complaining when their wings melt 😅
@@orangepixelgames well, easy, I'm a web dev xD haha. But I like Godot, so I use the editor in one monitor and VS Code to write gdscript in the other one, just like when I'm doing web dev hehe
@@orangepixelgames Cause they've got us by the 🍒, man 😩 I hung on with CS6 for ages, but eventually had to just bite the bullet to get CC. Gimp is cool, but for work, school, and home, I use at least 7-8 major Adobe products (and added a new one last year - XD is great for UI design). The opportunity cost of learning new tools for *all* of those functions, and hoping they are well-supported, is just higher than the sub at this point.
A great small lean DAW that can do what audacity does as well is Reaper. One time 50 euros per major release. And you own it. I love it as my daw as it’s small no useless bells and whistles it starts quick. It’s great.
@@orangepixelgames yes the UI is a bit weird at times. But for just doing audio work it’s pretty decent. But it’s a shame the went full on spyware 🙁I didn’t even know that until you brought it up. I did a hack video last year m.ruclips.net/video/6LS6rcwXQ_E/видео.html where I used audacity to find the OOK pattern of a received signal to reverse engineer the protocol of those cheap weather stations from the Action. And it was part of the Linux distribution with all the RF tools. And I could actually find my way around but usually after the 2nd or 3rd try.
By the way, you can disable the sleep when the lid is closed option in windows power settings, so you can close the laptop and still have the monitors working.
I have a pretty similar setup for general software dev. One main monitor for the IDE, and the laptop monitor for comms and PM stuff. I don't really feel a need for another monitor either, it seems like it would be harder to focus at that point.
Definitely using a framework vs an engine has its inherited benefits. But I must confess that I would probably go bananas if I don't have an engine behind me...or perhaps I'm just lazy😅
libGDX, the topic that brought me to your content. If I ever start back up my old mobile game project, I'll try to rewrite it using Flutter and the Flame game engine. And I agree about the three monitor experience as I used to be that guy 😅
Hey there Pascal👋, love your vids and tips about game dev. I was wondering if you could tell us how to optimize the GIFs for a Steam page, I saw that only a certain resolution, bitrate, framerate is going to work well and load fast and it really has been kind of a hassle for me to figure out how to do all of these, all I know is how to record game footage with OBS but turning it into GIFs for my Steam page is something that I still need to figure out.🙌
Honestly, I never knew there were bitrate limitations! Usually the best GIFs are less than 5mb in size, and I believe the optimal width for the steam page is 600px (could be 640)
Yet another great video! Thanks for taking the time to communicate through videos as well as the discord. Wish more solo/small team game developers did this. :)
@@orangepixelgames That's true. Editing takes time. And good videos takes more time. So, it's very understandable that not all finds the time to do so. Even more cudos to those who do take the time.
Regarding engine updates - no one is actually forcing you to update to the latest Unreal or Unity version. And a lot of companies and teams are still using older versions to finish their current projects.
I looked up the lid close hibernation thing, Its in "Power" settings for when the lid is closed. I could find it typing in "lid" in the search bar as well. Handy to know.
Think I looked that up and tried it when I just had this setup, but for some reason it didn't work, screen remained black.. maybe I should try again as my PC had many update since
yeah, it's in power settings. it will pop up an option that says "change what closing the lid does" when you type in lid and then you can change the setting.
Nice video. I have almost the same setup. Can also only work on 1 screen, for me no need for an extra screen. All software you use is basically the same I use except for the engine. I also do java game dev, however I use an engine called jMonkeyEngine. Been developing in it for more than a decade, so yeah, don't really want to change to Unity etc.
I remember jMonkeyEngine! When I was first getting into Android, I read up on that one and libGDX. At the time though they seemed limited in what platforms they could build to (2012 or so). By the time I came back around to commercial games (2016-ish), Unity seemed a better option (free, better support, more platforms).
first tip: rename your wordpress login location/page/url (google for some info on that) second tip: try to keep your admin account private, so don't post things using that one, but create a separate account for posting news third check out and install any (or preferably all) of these plugins to make your site more safe: - BulletProof Security - Sucuri Security - WP Cerber Security
Unity certainly has its quirks but as someone whom has used it for almost 10 years, I have never experienced it messing up my code during upgrades. An idea for a future video: How does SeriousLion migrate your games to other platforms? Will he re-write your code, how do you manage the collaboration etc
I currently use 3 external monitors in addition to the laptop, one for teams, one for the XD, one for web browser and one for Vs code. I like my monitors 😂
Nothing better than the do-nothing gatekeepers telling you "you're not indie", when you bank account and more-importantly; number of "employees" says otherwise.
Looked up LibGDX and you can only use Java as the programming language. Shame I thought maybe it would also support Kotlin since you can compile Java to Kotlin since they both run on the JVM. With LibGDX do you need to import anything into your project?
5:26 Yes, please do a video on why you like using Java & libGDX 👍 As someone who "thinks" in Java, but has been doing C#/Unity for about 7yrs now, I recently did a little exercise of converting the meat of one of my old Android games to Unity. It's not hard, or even terribly time-consuming if you aren't using anything esoteric. It wasn't my primary project, so I didn't go through the full porting process. But the potential there to either leverage 3rd party tools/assets, or achieve true "code-once, deploy anywhere" ability is worth a solid look.
@@orangepixelgames afaik for 3d, MG does not have a lot of libgdx features like playing a 3d gltf animation track, or is everything in your games is 2D?
I think 1 ultra wide + 1 portrait 16:9 monitor is a good ammount of monitors to have space for code + browser + documents, and maybe 1 extra monitor on top of the ultra wide to run the game for testing while you can still see the rest of the stuff. I currently have 1 ultra wide + 16:9 monitor and I love this setup.
I thought he said he used a mech and got excited for a second...
Only outdoors, else it's a bit messy 🙃
It is funny that I converged to a lot of the same tools. Except pixelart in Gimp. You are a hero! Love the dinglish on the toolbox scene! Lol
Ha! Yeah Gimp isn't for everyone, especially not for pixel art 😁
It's always great to see a new video every Thursday to learn something new Pascal, thank you!
You're welcome and thanks for watching every week! 😁
always an interesting clip before the intro starts xD
I try!🤓
I quit using notebooks and went back to a tower pc, they last longer and you could replace broken parts.
Thinking about that when it becomes time to upgrade this one. I rarely take it off my desk
A portrait monitor is fabulous for code reading, I however havr to enlarge my font and use a sans-serif as I’m older too. (50) Love your simple tools!
Hahaha, you got toolkit! 😅It is so funny! 😂😂😂
Thanks to Aline for the help on that bit 😜
2 Screens: 1 for code, 1 for the game/editor/etc. Much easier to debug.
Third screen: for people working in teams so the team communication is open.
If working with 1 screen only, I find the Mac is much better as it handles multiple desktops better than Windows.
Great information as always o/ thanks for the videos
Thanks for watching 😉
Another great video, especially for those that may just be starting out on their own game dev journey.
Thanks! 🙃
Hot take on "breaking patches" - too many folks don't really code defensively. 1- They don't maintain test / archive versions, so all platform changes are pulled into master, sometimes automatically. Gotta at least make a test branch, so you can safely see what breaks.
2- Lot of "black box" plugins, SDKs, and other dependencies, that aren't staying on top of upcoming releases. It's like updating the OS before finding out if all your critical software runs on the new version.
And 3- people wanting to use the shiny, bleeding-edge stuff from the Unity keynotes, even while it's still in alpha/preview. I keep my development at Current-1, and leave preview features for side experiments.
Folks out here flying too close to the sun, then complaining when their wings melt 😅
I like to use 2 monitors: 1 in landscape an another one in portrait. I code in the portrait and check the results in the landscape :)
Sounds like mobile gamedev 🙃 my PC versions don't run well in landscape mode 😁
@@orangepixelgames well, easy, I'm a web dev xD haha. But I like Godot, so I use the editor in one monitor and VS Code to write gdscript in the other one, just like when I'm doing web dev hehe
Gimp is awesome. Anything is better than Adobe subscriptions.
Can't believe so many people subscribe to software!
@@orangepixelgames Cause they've got us by the 🍒, man 😩 I hung on with CS6 for ages, but eventually had to just bite the bullet to get CC. Gimp is cool, but for work, school, and home, I use at least 7-8 major Adobe products (and added a new one last year - XD is great for UI design). The opportunity cost of learning new tools for *all* of those functions, and hoping they are well-supported, is just higher than the sub at this point.
A great small lean DAW that can do what audacity does as well is Reaper. One time 50 euros per major release. And you own it. I love it as my daw as it’s small no useless bells and whistles it starts quick. It’s great.
Might check it out, still think Audacity is somewhat of a weird tool with many of its features
@@orangepixelgames yes the UI is a bit weird at times. But for just doing audio work it’s pretty decent. But it’s a shame the went full on spyware 🙁I didn’t even know that until you brought it up.
I did a hack video last year m.ruclips.net/video/6LS6rcwXQ_E/видео.html where I used audacity to find the OOK pattern of a received signal to reverse engineer the protocol of those cheap weather stations from the Action. And it was part of the Linux distribution with all the RF tools. And I could actually find my way around but usually after the 2nd or 3rd try.
By the way, you can disable the sleep when the lid is closed option in windows power settings, so you can close the laptop and still have the monitors working.
I remember trying that option, but something else didn't work.. can't remember what, but maybe I should try that!
I have a pretty similar setup for general software dev. One main monitor for the IDE, and the laptop monitor for comms and PM stuff. I don't really feel a need for another monitor either, it seems like it would be harder to focus at that point.
Exactly! Too much screens to look at and get distracted on
Oddly enough, I've been looking for a camera system for a while. Thank you, I really didn't want an IP Camera I love been aware of the hacking issue
We once had an IP camera that started turning/rotating without me doing it 😅 it was quickly disconnected!
@@orangepixelgames and that's why those cameras are terrifying
Definitely using a framework vs an engine has its inherited benefits. But I must confess that I would probably go bananas if I don't have an engine behind me...or perhaps I'm just lazy😅
No comment! 🤣
libGDX, the topic that brought me to your content. If I ever start back up my old mobile game project, I'll try to rewrite it using Flutter and the Flame game engine. And I agree about the three monitor experience as I used to be that guy 😅
Hey there Pascal👋, love your vids and tips about game dev. I was wondering if you could tell us how to optimize the GIFs for a Steam page, I saw that only a certain resolution, bitrate, framerate is going to work well and load fast and it really has been kind of a hassle for me to figure out how to do all of these, all I know is how to record game footage with OBS but turning it into GIFs for my Steam page is something that I still need to figure out.🙌
Honestly, I never knew there were bitrate limitations! Usually the best GIFs are less than 5mb in size, and I believe the optimal width for the steam page is 600px (could be 640)
Yet another great video! Thanks for taking the time to communicate through videos as well as the discord. Wish more solo/small team game developers did this. :)
It can be a lot of work 😜
@@orangepixelgames That's true. Editing takes time. And good videos takes more time. So, it's very understandable that not all finds the time to do so. Even more cudos to those who do take the time.
Regarding engine updates - no one is actually forcing you to update to the latest Unreal or Unity version. And a lot of companies and teams are still using older versions to finish their current projects.
Obviously nobody is forcing people to update, but many still do if there's something shiny offered 😁
Awesome video as always, what do you use for the collisions on your game? Box2D? Custom collision/physics?
Custom, and very simple, physics!
Awesome! I was wondering though, I use libGDX and never got hotswap or class reloading to work, I always end up launching my game again :s
Try running it through intellij /ide , and not through Gradle. That fixed it for me
I looked up the lid close hibernation thing, Its in "Power" settings for when the lid is closed. I could find it typing in "lid" in the search bar as well. Handy to know.
Think I looked that up and tried it when I just had this setup, but for some reason it didn't work, screen remained black.. maybe I should try again as my PC had many update since
@@orangepixelgames On a laptop it might be in the BIOS settings, or there might be an OEM setting overriding Windows'.
yeah, it's in power settings. it will pop up an option that says "change what closing the lid does" when you type in lid and then you can change the setting.
Nice video. I have almost the same setup. Can also only work on 1 screen, for me no need for an extra screen. All software you use is basically the same I use except for the engine. I also do java game dev, however I use an engine called jMonkeyEngine. Been developing in it for more than a decade, so yeah, don't really want to change to Unity etc.
Not sure I ever saw the jMonkeyEngine! Is that also cross-platform?
I remember jMonkeyEngine! When I was first getting into Android, I read up on that one and libGDX. At the time though they seemed limited in what platforms they could build to (2012 or so). By the time I came back around to commercial games (2016-ish), Unity seemed a better option (free, better support, more platforms).
I'm interested about learning how you locked down your WordPress website. Got links to learn more?
first tip: rename your wordpress login location/page/url (google for some info on that)
second tip: try to keep your admin account private, so don't post things using that one, but create a separate account for posting news
third check out and install any (or preferably all) of these plugins to make your site more safe:
- BulletProof Security
- Sucuri Security
- WP Cerber Security
2 monitor is for watching your videos and making game at the same time haha.
Haha! Good excuse to have an extra one ✌️😁
Unity certainly has its quirks but as someone whom has used it for almost 10 years, I have never experienced it messing up my code during upgrades.
An idea for a future video: How does SeriousLion migrate your games to other platforms? Will he re-write your code, how do you manage the collaboration etc
Think I need to involve SeriousLion in that video somehow sometime 🤔😁
@@orangepixelgamesthat would be nice
I couldn't work with only 1 screen. 2 screens are required. 1 for running the app/game and the other for the IDE, log output, and the like.
When I'm programming I also only use one screen, but it's 4k and used in quadrants like having four 1080p monitors.
I have the game and ide on the same screen, works fine 🙃
@@orangepixelgamesSo you don't make fullscreen games that take over the primary display?
I usually test in windowed mode, and only sometimes in fullscreen
@@aufdem2 I still use 1080p. So like @orangepixelgames you don't test fullscreen much.
I currently use 3 external monitors in addition to the laptop, one for teams, one for the XD, one for web browser and one for Vs code. I like my monitors 😂
Sure you got enough of them? 🤣
@@orangepixelgames going to need a bigger desk 🤣
Nothing better than the do-nothing gatekeepers telling you "you're not indie", when you bank account and more-importantly; number of "employees" says otherwise.
I'm not too worried about idiots like that tho 🙃
Alternative for Audacity is Tenacity or Wavosaur.
Checking those out! Thanks for the tip
Looked up LibGDX and you can only use Java as the programming language. Shame I thought maybe it would also support Kotlin since you can compile Java to Kotlin since they both run on the JVM. With LibGDX do you need to import anything into your project?
5:26 Yes, please do a video on why you like using Java & libGDX 👍 As someone who "thinks" in Java, but has been doing C#/Unity for about 7yrs now, I recently did a little exercise of converting the meat of one of my old Android games to Unity. It's not hard, or even terribly time-consuming if you aren't using anything esoteric.
It wasn't my primary project, so I didn't go through the full porting process. But the potential there to either leverage 3rd party tools/assets, or achieve true "code-once, deploy anywhere" ability is worth a solid look.
Might do that video! Simple topic which leaves room for a fun video 👍
Why ezgif over screentogif?
What's the biggest difference between them?
No idea, I never used screentogif.
do you use the command line when committing code to bitbucket or do you use a graphical interface?
No, intellij has great integration with GIT, so it's nice buttons to commit/push and add comments
How are you porting your libgdx games to consoles?
I teamed up with another developer who translates my game code to Monogame and we use that for the various consoles
@@orangepixelgames afaik for 3d, MG does not have a lot of libgdx features like playing a 3d gltf animation track, or is everything in your games is 2D?
hi orangepixel
Hey!
Do you use mostly custom physics or Box2D?
Custom (and very simple) physics
Youre a solo dev! Who did you pay to put a toolbox on your desk!? That makes you NOT a solo dev!! 😂😂
a solo dev .. not a single dev 😜
@@orangepixelgames be honest, how much of "your" development work does she do? Are you just the face of orange pixel? 🤣
🤫😏😁