chapliboy

My Deepest Fear

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:26:00 +0530

My deepest fear is not that these systems have no promise.

My deepest fear is that these systems are rich beyond measure.

It is the potential, not lack thereof, that most frightens me.

I ask myself, who am I to make something Beautiful and True,

Actually, who am I not to?

I am an experiencer of our Universe, and the creator of my own,

My playing small does not serve thew world.

There is nothing enlightened about shirking away from the light to protect my ego.

What's Next?

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 10:22:42 +0530

There is this thing that ^{(thanks Prateek)} has been said about deadlines,

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” - Douglas Adams

I have grown to find that I like those sounds myself as well. But still, an update is in order…

So the ant-game that I was previously working on has been shelved. It was large and ambitious, and it would have taken maybe three-four years to do it justice, so around July 2024, I placed that on the metaphorical shelf, and decided to move on to the next one.

Holistic Game Design

Thu, 22 Aug 2024 17:58:42 +0530

I sometimes forget that games consists of many different fields, and in the best of cases, the final product is more than the sum of its parts.

I generally consider myself involved in the fields of a systems-design and programming. So whenever I spot problems while making my games, I tend to use those as my hammers. It is often only after a whole lot of hammering, and sufficient metaphorical smashed thumbs do I remember a fundamental truth; There are more tools than my favored hammers.

The Art and Craft of Puzzle Design

Sat, 13 Apr 2024 11:09:42 +0530

Over the course of making a game, you get to learn a lot. I was fortunate to be allowed to share a lot of what I learned about the art and craft of puzzle design at ThinkyCon.

KCPS is a cozy puzzle game about helping pirate ships do pirate things. It’s available on Steam now.

Custom Engine? Custom Everything

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 17:09:50 +0530

It’s been almost a year, and I’ve done a lot more game design and feel like I have a bit more to share about the choice I make to write my own engine as opposed to using one that has already been constructed for me.

KCPS is a cozy puzzle game about helping pirate ships do pirate things. It’s available on Steam now.

Evolution of an Idea

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 20:58:00 +0530

I had an idea. And I was convinced that it was the greatest idea ever idead.

In three words: Zachtronics… but ants!

Here’s the premise. In a colony of ants, a single ant has a very basic set of instructions that it follows. A finite set of “states” that it can be in and a few methods of interacting with other ants in the colony. But when you have thousands of ants following the same ruleset, something emerges that is greater than the sum of its parts. Something like a SuperOrganism, where the colony as a whole seems to have an intelligence. A Hivemind in the most literal sense.

Two Months of Prototypes

Sat, 09 Sep 2023 15:03:06 +0530

In July 2023, I was honored and grateful to be selected as a part of the 2023 Astra Fellowship Cohort. The fellowship encourages developers who are intereseted in thinky games.

ThinkyGames.com defines thinky as

Thinky games are those that ask you to carefully reason your way through puzzles and challenges; games brimming with curiosity and discovery. If you find yourself thinking through a problem and then, when the insights finally dawn on you, exclaiming “aha!” – you’re probably playing a thinky game.

KCPS: A Retrospective Analysis

Wed, 21 Jun 2023 06:49:50 +0530

Konkan Coast Pirate Solutions released on the 1st of March 2023. It’s been a few months now, and I thought it might be time to look back at the game, and analyse some of the decisions that I chose to make.

NOTE: I am incredibly proud of how the game has come out. I feel like I pushed to the best of my abilities. For what it aims to be, the game does a great job.
While a lot of the analysis might appear critical, it is just an opportunity for me to learn, and improve my craft.
Given what I knew at the time, I did the best with what I had. Moving forward I hope to do better, and this retrospective analysis is an opportunity to do that.

For the purposes of this analysis, I consider Design to be everything within the game. Everything that was in my control to do falls under this category.

The UX of Puzzle Games

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 06:49:50 +0530

Every aspect of a game has an impact on the players experience.

I developed a puzzle game, and learnt a lot over the course of that journey.. It’s out on Steam now.

So here’s the subtle aspects of puzzle game design.

From Idea to Steam

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 06:49:50 +0530

I just released Konkan Coast Pirate Solutions.

It is a cozy puzzle game about helping pirate ships do pirate things. It’s out on Steam now.

So here’s how I the game evolved from the initial idea.

Developing an Artstyle

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 06:49:50 +0530

The first thing you see of a game is a visual. A gif on reddit, a clip on tiktok. Some snippet of some video essay. A thumbnail on steam. And if they’re on your steam page, the trailer and screenshots better not disappoint… that’s what decides if you’re getting a wishlist. That’s just how it goes…

So when it came to my game, It was challenge I would face at some point or the other.

A Game in a Custom Engine

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 06:49:50 +0530

Using a custom engine to create a game is sometimes discouraged. People highlight a whole host of reasons why it is a bad idea. So I thought I could talk a bit about some reasons why it is a good idea. Or atleast, why it was a good idea for me.

I used a custom engine to develop Konkan Coast Pirate Solutions.

It is a cozy puzzle game about helping pirate ships do pirate things. It’s out on 1st March. Wishlist now.

Puzzle Games and Difficulty

Wed, 01 Feb 2023 06:49:50 +0530

I love Stephen Sausage Roll.

It was the first puzzle game that I played, and it will always be the gold standard for me. It was brutally difficult at times. Just manoeuvring around the levels can be difficult, and my playthrough spread out over more than a year. I would face a difficult puzzle, break my head over it for a while, and be completely stuck. Then I would take a long break.