Game Developers of Kiwi Farms

[Spirit of Fire]

Welcome to game development in 2024, where a game is just an amalgamation of assets held together by flimsy code. I have an eye for art and I am telling you, art assets are even more shoddily slapped together

Doesn't have to be this way. Its really telling when the few projects that don't just do that and stick to their own artstyle without autistic tutorials taking control away from the player every 5 seconds seem to be breakaway hits.

 

[SphinxItOver]

autistic tutorials taking control away from the player every 5 seconds

The only thing more annoying than being forced to do a hour long tutorial is a game that is more movie than game play. I don't consider Heavy Rain and it's ilk to be games.

 

[Hee]

Welcome to game development in 2024, where a game is just an amalgamation of assets held together by flimsy code. I have an eye for art and I am telling you, art assets are even more shoddily slapped together

For a lot of indies, developing a methodology and workflow for creating assets and applying them through code would be their golden ticket. A lot of talent and time is wasted by “I don’t really know how to put this all together on a fundamental level but fuck it.”

I’ve seen pushback on the “make tons of small games before you do your dream game,” and I think it’s because the reason behind it is lost. You do these small games to develop workflows and best practices, and get your retard mistakes out of your system. Too many go all-in before being able to do key things.

You should not be trying to figure out a basic nested menu system 8 months into your grand indie Action RPG. You should not be figuring out how to port blender cutscene animations into your game engine for the first time when you need to launch your game a 3-6 months from now.

I think many indies don’t realize how much depth goes into the development and designs made for games. Take Hyrule Historia, for example. The concept art and designs in that book consist of no more than 10% of the artwork, schematics, etc. that were made for the Zelda games inside. Pot designs were likely decided before a 3D artist even began to model it. Mechanics and game feel were drawn out and even mocked up in 3D before programmers laid the foundations of combat and movement. You don’t have to go that deep in some of the time, but it’s important as an indie to consider and at least document what the plan is before going forward.

You will otherwise drown if the scope gets any bigger than the most simple of games. Even if you succeed despite lack of planning and consideration and finish your game, it will likely be inconsiderately designed and visually disjointed, which kills reliable longevity for your game.

 

[Spirit of Fire]

I’ve seen pushback on the “make tons of small games before you do your dream game,” and I think it’s because the reason behind it is lost. You do these small games to develop workflows and best practices, and get your retard mistakes out of your system. Too many go all-in before being able to do key things.

Pretty much. Its almost always shilled by grifters essentially pushing the "give up on your hopes and dreams lol" message aggressively. Sure you likely won't make something on par with a project with a huge team of people dedicated to it for a few years, but it makes no sense to make a 2D platformer when you want to make a First person or Third person shooter. Especially just for a hobby.

Yes there are some similarities like UI interfaces and Jumping and shooting projectiles and some simple character animations, but you miss out on fundamentals of 3D game design like first person vs third person view and 3D map design instead of yet more forgettable platforms to bing bing wahoo around. Its better to just start with the genre you want to make and git gud making horrible attempts and learning from your mistakes every time than waste time making completely unrelated genres you dont care about as a learning practice. The whole "On the job" arguement is very different from being an indie where you do have 100% complete control over what kind of game you want to make, but it simply wont get made if you don't put the time and effort in and its a god damn minefield just to learn fundamentals these days thanks to grifters shitting up search engines.

Then there's the creatively bankrupt shitstirrers who catastrophize that EVERY god damn implementation of a function is the worst thing ever just to fuck with people new to the hobby and do nothing but lure in people to discord servers with any questions like they constantly shill in their videos, just to ban them without warning in an effort to demoralize them as they will never be honest or admit they simply don't know something. They can suck a sawed off shotgun. Optimization? They'd sooner gaslight you and pretend such concepts dont exist.

 

[Viper the rappah]

Not to flex guys but i just finished my first game, pong so kinda of big deal

All jokes side this was painful as hell. 45 minute video turned into 2-3 hours of slamming my head into keyboard until it worked which is shit even for a beginner.
Most of the code wasn't even hard but me constantly moving variables in wrong place, miss tying words, aligning inconsistently with tabs and other small hiccups costed me a lot of time.

In the end it's janky as hell. Speed is sluggish maybe because of me or because youtuber didn't bother with acceleration bullshit, scoring is broken where if you hit lower border in middle the enemy gets a point. Ball goes fast and then suddenly slows down upon hitting, blocks have no restrictions and can fly off the game yada yada

So i'm sitting there and thinking "what now"?
What do i do after this? I have ideas for games and sure i won't jump in when i'm making a comic but i have so many ideas and projects to do after my demise in comic medium and i can't even make pong play smooth.
I was thinking of picking one of my ideas and then just making smaller/shitter versions of my dream game until i get good and then make it

If this is a good way to start then i'd like to when i do finally get my hands onto games use this thread to help and as personal tard wrangler
So i'll ask 3 questions: best game engine for making shit as a newbie?
Which one requires least amount of hair to pull
And which one of these games would (you) want to (if anyone event wants) play

Spoiler: retarded game pitch show

As of now i have no new ideas about games other than remastering old ones as small projects just made to experiment and have fun

Angry banana- Angry banana is just my friend pedro but you play as a banana with gravity gun.

Past idea was very wacky where plot was food is sentient and thrown off food or one that is scrapping by escape and build food society near swamp or some shit and during one of wars humans drop in gravity gun and food military takes it in. Main character steals said gun to profit off and gets chased away. No idea why he was banana but i'd probably just change into human.

Anyways you got basic 5 weapon types and gravity gun. It's 2 side scroller where you can use grav gun to throw objects at enemies such as mugs or even grandes back, use environment props such as cars and other stuff to throw at them and also to help you manoeuver around.
Was supposed to have 5 guns, shotgun that if you point at feet propeller you forward and pack a punch but lack range. Basic pistol to use as an average weapon and unlimited ammo. Ak47 that has strong damage and range but poor recoil while uzi complete opposite but with same range and speed. Sniper one shots almost everyone except armed enemies but gives too huge knock back and reload.

-sex the game
Okay this one is old and childish but it's not porn game but tycoon builder and dungeon crawler. Based on that old shitty meme ceo of sex where your business is falling apart so you have to go exploring around town to obtain hookers and visit these dungeons (buildings) where you fight endless amount of enemies and bosses were supposed to be pimps and shit. It was supposed to be that each dungeon has final boss and can be beatable but layouts and other stuff are completely different each time you enter. In the end you get money and hookers which helps you build your empire also unlocking more cities to exploit until you reach the end. The main character is guy named John, the new ceo that has no dick and balls but instead lmg for penis and his two balls are replaced for those boxy cartridges you see on those machine guns. You can upgrade it by adding rockets, turn it into a minigun, yada yada
These two were supposed to be for newgrounds
-Concord(sludge fest)
I like idea of their armour being based on your organs so why not up the madness and make it whole esthetic. It's somewhere far into future where humans are grotesquely mutated and only way for these freaks to gain enough money to hold and contain their disgusting appearance from killing them is by applying as mercenaries. You play as several unique characters all mutated in a way which curtain body part/organ gives them special ability. For example that fat brown bitch baz or whatever she called carrying a minigun would've been super fast obese man that shoots stomach acid strong enough to melt game walls. Also had idea for other characters that are original like one whose entire ability is that every time they activate super the mutate into a new mode reaching a new stage and slight change or gameplay or guy whose mutation is centered around lungs so for his super he activates a plasma ball that covers area in which he sucks all oxygen in and eveyone that doesn't leave in few seconds dies and suffocates
Im thinking overwatch meets cruelty squad

 

[Lukie]

Not to flex guys but i just finished my first game, pong so kinda of big deal

All jokes side this was painful as hell. 45 minute video turned into 2-3 hours of slamming my head into keyboard until it worked which is shit even for a beginner.
Most of the code wasn't even hard but me constantly moving variables in wrong place, miss tying words, aligning inconsistently with tabs and other small hiccups costed me a lot of time. In the end it's janky as hell. Speed is sluggish maybe because of me or because youtuber didn't bother with acceleration bullshit, scoring is broken where if you hit lower border in middle the enemy gets a point. Ball goes fast and then suddenly slows down upon hitting, blocks have no restrictions and can fly off the game yada yada

So i'm sitting there and thinking "what now"?
What do i do after this? I have ideas for games and sure i won't jump in when i'm making a comic but i have so many ideas and projects to do after my demise in comic medium and i can't even make pong play smooth. I was thinking of picking one of my ideas and then just making smaller/shitter versions of my dream game until i get good and then make it

Congrats - It is a big deal! You should be proud and now have an appreciation of how much effort needs to be put it.

You have a few choices:

1. Finish off in Pong game fix the bugs and build upon it like adding special blocks
2. Try other tutorials which will teach you different things and follow along
3. Do a small project which would get you closer to your dream game
4. join a solo Game jam make an attempt - it doesn't matter if you finish
5. Start on your dream game and struggle through and then end up refactoring everything.

​

​

 

[Lukie]

If this is a good way to start then i'd like to when i do finally get my hands onto games use this thread to help and as personal tard wrangler
So i'll ask 2 questions: best game engine for making shit as a newbie?
And which one of these games would require least hair pulling?

Spoiler: retarded game pitch show

undefined

It seems like the most suitable one would be Angry banana. You learnt how to fire, move and collisions doing Pong.

I would suggest sticking with the same engine else you'll be adding loads of overhead getting to grips with a new one.

I would also suggest without writing any code to bulk out your specs in a document or on paper. What classes, variables and functions are needed, what you need to keep track of. How do these parts interact?

ie:
========================
Class name Gun:
Gun name: "uzi"
reload time: 5f
clip size: 30
bullets left: 2
cooldown: 0.1f
cooldown counter: 0.05f
bulletType: Class<FlamingBullet>

Functions:

Fire
/*
Func: spawn bullet
bullets left - 1
cooldown counter == cooldown

========================


You get the idea - it's a helpful exercise to get you thinking about what you're doing before you implement anything and code yourself into a corner.

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

Not to flex guys but i just finished my first game, pong so kinda of big deal

Good for you.

I strongly recommend using chatGPT. It's a great assistant in the beginning. It can review your code, explain function, and suggest improvements to your code (and even art style).

And before you start your game, you should write down a lists of mechanics and features that you intend to add to your game. Anything from basic mechanics and controls (movement, how guns work), to enemies, QoL (do some research of similar games and look at mechanics that you like and would make your game fancier), and VERY IMPORTANT scope; a lot of new devs tend to scope-creep, and concept too big projects (I did that myself). You will come face to face with limitations, be it skill, time, or the game not being fun or clicking. I've had this myself; I spent time working on complex RPGs and TBS just to find out that, when everything was put together, the game was not fun to play, so don't be afraid to kill your baby. You will learn a lot, even if you don't finish your projects.

If you have a hard time finding motivation or ideas, try doing game jams; they force a deadline and a theme. Limitation breeds creativity, and you will learn to hone your skills and again, VERY IMPORTANT, work along others.

 

[Battlefield42]

All jokes side this was painful as hell. 45 minute video turned into 2-3 hours of slamming my head into keyboard until it worked which is shit even for a beginner.

My Gamemaker 8 built in "first game" tutorial experience.

 

[Homocull]

Need to implement lighting. I use tilemaps so it's not an issue to add; just gonna do what SS13 does and have it be tile-based too (it's fast and will let me query lighting info on any tile for gameplay purposes... cough cough SS14)

However, I was so wowed by PirateSoftware's 'crazy efficient "raytracing"' that I just had to try that first. This one's for you bro (still don't know how this tard has so many views).

Ok but how well does it run? Well, really good actually (for what it is). The performance cost is the same regardless of how many emitters there are. You can render the effect at 1/4th the resolution (from 720p) and it'll still look nice, surprisingly. On a newish laptop, AMD integrated graphics pulled around 144 FPS if I dropped it to half.
For anyone else that wants to experiment, I followed this guy's write-up on the topic.

Spoiler

Raytracing isn't cheap (no shit)
First is a fullbright scene, it runs at about 4000 FPS.
Second is naive raymarching. Rendering in 720p, It runs at 400 FPS. It also looks like shit.
Third is ditto, but with 96 rays per pixel instead of 16. This runs at 200 FPS. There's still some noise left, but it's ok. Also my room is warm now.
Fourth is radiance cascades, with a base ray count of 4. This runs at 300FPS.

However, with radiance cascades you can drop the resolution and not lose too much, yet massively improve performance.
0.75x runs at 500~ FPS
0.5x runs at 1000~ FPS
0.25x runs at 1500~ FPS. The resolution at this point is too low to "zoom out" though (see below)

There's 3 problems, but nothing major. Two of those are screenspace related.

Spoiler

Lights disappearing​

The effect is screenspace so lights and occluders stop existing when they go offscreen.
Solved by zooming out when rendering lights and then drawing the resulting texture zoomed in so it overlays nicely. Most retarded solution ever but it works.

Sun leaking​

Sunlight comes from the edges of the screen. If you are in an especially wide interior this can cause the sun to bleed where it shouldn't.
Solved by adding an "EXTERIOR" flag for tiles. Tiles on the edges of the screen with this flag are drawn to a mask. Then, 4px thick lines are drawn around the scene texture and stencil tested against said mask. Only pixels where the sun don't shine are kept.

Color banding​

It's only noticeable in some dark scenes with bright lights. Fix: add a smidge of dithering.

While it looks great I still need a way to get what lighting a tile has, and also a lighting method that can run on a celeron. Tile-based lighting will remain on my chopping block.

 

[Private Tag Reporter]

While it looks great I still need a way to get what lighting a tile has

I'm not sure what your rendering pipeline looks like, but if the lighting is per-tile, you should be able to write a shader that takes the unlit/base canvas and instead of writing out display information to the screen, writes out a compressed canvas of pixels (1px per tile) with just the luminance value (encoded however you want, probably by just writing the white value out equally on rgb). Then you can query the brightness of each pixel on that canvas to get the luminance for each pixel/tile instead.

Not sure if that's the solution you want/need, but I hope the idea helps.

 

[Homocull]

I'm not sure what your rendering pipeline looks like, but if the lighting is per-tile, you should be able to write a shader that takes the unlit/base canvas and instead of writing out display information to the screen, writes out a compressed canvas of pixels (1px per tile) with just the luminance value (encoded however you want, probably by just writing the white value out equally on rgb). Then you can query the brightness of each pixel on that canvas to get the luminance for each pixel/tile instead.

Not sure if that's the solution you want/need, but I hope the idea helps.

Well that's one way, but a separate tilemap acting as the lighting layer + shadow caster will do the trick. Assuming a client-server scenario too

 

[Judge Dredd]

I'm considering abandoning a project, or changing it's focus.

I've mentioned it here in vague terms. My idea was basically Nu-Xcom, but with waifus. Thanks to GoonerGate, I've learned that game already exists. It's called Girls Frontline 2. I'd play it, but I don't want Chinese spyware just to play a gotcha game. What's more, the game offers features I can't match, like individual character animations, and "individually modeled toes". I've not heard much about the gameplay itself, almost as if it's an afterthought. Though the context of goonergate might be getting in the way.

I've also been considering an engine switch. I've been having issues with Godots tilemap layers system. I assume I'm doing something wrong there as having to a command to check all layers or layers in specific groups should be a thing. I think I can figure it out. I'm not completely stuck. But when combined with other issues I'm having with the engine for other projects. I don't know.

I might just be too dumb for anything bigger than a nes game. My art isn't up to par, and I'm feeling the pull of dumb engines and systems. Despite it's limitations and frustrations, GameBoyStudio at least gives results. I'm often tempted by Pico 8 and other fantasy or retro hardware. You have to make your own tools, which sounds bad, but then if something breaks it's because you broke something, not because of some quirk of the software. I saw Love2D recommended, but I think that's just because of Ballatro. The same way Game Maker became the new hotness after Hotline Miami, or Unity did after that Blizzard card game.

I’ve seen pushback on the “make tons of small games before you do your dream game,” and I think it’s because the reason behind it is lost. You do these small games to develop workflows and best practices, and get your retard mistakes out of your system. Too many go all-in before being able to do key things.

I think the pushback is, much like "never use globals", it goes from sound advice to dogma.

A lot of this comes from the overnight success type stories. Palworld being a recent one. A few plucky losers who never made a game before make something that sells millions. There are even awards for "best debut" at the video game awards.

 

[Private Tag Reporter]

I saw Love2D recommended, but I think that's just because of Ballatro.

I use Love2D and Lua is my preferred programming language. It is more of a framework than an engine, you'll have to code a lot, and I mean a lot to get what Godot gives you. But if you're up for the coding, it's a blue ocean, and you generally don't need everything Godot gives you anyways. That being said, I'd recommend it if you're up for the challenge, and I'd be happy to lend some pointers. (FWIW, Pico-8 is also coded with Lua, just with retarded limitations. I would not recommend paying for a fantasy console, go with an open source or free option).

As for Godot's tilemaps, I don't know if you're using 3 or 4, but in 3 they were bad but in 4 they're much worse. For some reason they let an extremely underbaked implementation of tile-maps into the main branch in 4.0, it took them until 4.4 to be even a little bit acceptable, but even still they're really not great.

As for switching your focus, I would have to say do what calls to you. If you want to make Titty Xcom, ask yourself what about that calls out to you, and what would be within your ability to make. There has to be something unique you want to add, or something you want that's unique to you. That unique spin is what you add. Even if a similar concept or game exists with a higher budget production quality, it won't be your game.

That being said, there's no shame in scoping down to something you can complete to start out, just to say you did it. It does feel good to finish something instead of having a bunch of unfinished projects, but in the same token, if you're not working on something you're passionate about, why bother? Make something fun for yourself and your friends, and shoot for the moon.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I use Love2D and Lua is my preferred programming language. It is more of a framework than an engine, you'll have to code a lot, and I mean a lot to get what Godot gives you. But if you're up for the coding, it's a blue ocean, and you generally don't need everything Godot gives you anyways. That being said, I'd recommend it if you're up for the challenge, and I'd be happy to lend some pointers.

Thanks. If you want to post them, go ahead, but I'll wait a bit before trying it. I like coding. It's my favourite part of the process. I don't mind Lua. But a large part of why I switched to Godot, and why I loved Game Maker so much back in the day, is that all the editing is done "in engine". I found using external programs introduced problems. In the same way I get frustrated with Godot when the hang up is getting a node to do what I want. I would get frustrated when visual studio (or whatever I was using) wouldn't like what I was doing. So I'll look into the prerequisites first.

The fewer links in the chain, the happier I am. I think this is why I like junk like Doom and GBStudio even if I'm bad at them, because there is an tool, and graphics are easy to produce. In contrast to Source engine modding where I was constantly wrestling with broken plug ins and crashing tools to do what I wanted.

I'd say having tools built in is a plus too, but they are currently a bit rubbish in Godot so why bother.

As for Godot's tilemaps, I don't know if you're using 3 or 4, but in 3 they were bad but in 4 they're much worse. For some reason they let an extremely underbaked implementation of tile-maps into the main branch in 4.0, it took them until 4.4 to be even a little bit acceptable, but even still they're really not great.

I'm using 4.3, but I can try 4.4.

As for switching your focus, I would have to say do what calls to you.

That being said, there's no shame in scoping down to something you can complete to start out, just to say you did it. It does feel good to finish something instead of having a bunch of unfinished projects, but in the same token, if you're not working on something you're passionate about, why bother?

Agreed. I don't want to have lots of unfinished projects. And there's only so much room for "flappy bird but with friend in jokes". It goes back to a debate earlier in the thread where making games no one plays and people feel forced to do it to humour me feels bad. Especially when things I like are hated by wider gaming. Things like PS1 art style. That said, there are lots of ideas I have, though many are knock offs of other games like Alien Breed, Vampire Survivors, and Metal Gear.

If you want to make Titty Xcom, ask yourself what about that calls out to you, and what would be within your ability to make. There has to be something unique you want to add, or something you want that's unique to you. That unique spin is what you add. Even if a similar concept or game exists with a higher budget production quality, it won't be your game.

That I can articulate.

While I could go on a lengthy, autism filled explanation. It'll suffice to say that I really liked Xcom EU, EW, and Xcom 2. I've been chasing that high since, but every game messes it up in some way. I liked the ideas in X-Piratez, but found the execution lacking.

Making it happen is one of those weird questions. For another project, a resident evil style horror game, each individual element I can get working. Items, enemies, inventory, etc. But putting them together never seems to work out for one reason or another. There's also a question of art. My graphics ability is bad. So making characters hot, especially if I limit sprite resolution, is an uphill battle.

 

[my penis is on fire]

I'm at a bit of an impasse in my "career" right now. I'm a Godotnigger who's managed to smash together a few game-jam-sized games that I'm proud of, but now I'm indecisive about which way to expand my skillset from here since I don't want to make 2D pixelslop forever. Each possible path is something that would take a huge time commitment to learn and I can't do all three at the same time, which is why I'm stuck. My choices are:

• Git gud at C++. All of my "coding" experience at the moment is in Python and GDScript, so I want to learn how to do real coding. This would also probably help me get a bit more mileage out of Godot since I'd be able to directly mess around with its innards.
• Git gud at art. The trouble with pixel art is that while it's easier to make it look passably good than traditional art (which is arguably why indie devs use it so much), it skips over the fundamentals. I don't want to skip the fundamentals anymore, and I want to make stuff that's more visually unique. I've gotten okay at pixelart, so hopefully that'll be a nice jumping off point for traditional art.
• Git gud at 3D. In particular, learning to make that low-poly pixel texture style that a shitload of indies use nowadays. Not necessarily """PS1""" graphics, but moreso the Blockbench sorta style. 3D modeling, animation, and gamedev together seems way beyond anything I'm currently capable of, but if so many other solo devs (some being utter dregs of society) can figure it out then surely I can too.

So which way should I go? Every time I sit down and try to decide it ends with more indecision, so I'd like some outside advice. It doesn't help that all the tutorial content on the internet is Pirate Software-esque slop meant for absolute beginners, which I am not anymore. They all give the advice of starting with a few small projects, but once you've gotten past that point there's absolutely nothing for what to do next.

As for Godot's tilemaps, I don't know if you're using 3 or 4, but in 3 they were bad but in 4 they're much worse. For some reason they let an extremely underbaked implementation of tile-maps into the main branch in 4.0, it took them until 4.4 to be even a little bit acceptable, but even still they're really not great

Can confirm. I always dread having to work with tilemaps, whether it be bending over backwards to get a physics tile's collision layer or trying to convince set_cells_terrain_connect() to work properly. Is it any better in other engines?

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

Nu-Xcom, but with waifus

Scooe too big. Ditch it.

 

[Judge Dredd]

So which way should I go?

I'm in a similar boat. Only with a fourth pillar. Music. I might make a KF thread asking about that in the future. I don't have the "what to do next" problem, as I have a few dream projects I've been chasing for over a decade.

I wouldn't call this advice, here's what I'm doing about my shit tier art skills, since graphics are a major thing holding me back. I don't know if it'll work.

The PewDiePie challenge. Maybe it has a proper name, but PewDiePie bought a sketchbook and did some sketches for 10 minutes a day. After a month he showed improvement. After 100 days, more improvement. And 300 days in, he's pretty good.

This made people mad, saying that he only got so good because he's rich, or other similar complaints. I find it inspiring, and the reason I've not done it yet is because I've not got to the shop to buy a sketch book yet.

 

[Private Tag Reporter]

Highly recommend "You can draw in 30 days" by Mark Kistler. Was recommended in another thread on here and I'm slowly working my way through it and it's pretty good. Mind you, I can't draw a stick figure to save my life.

As for not having assets: honestly it can't hurt to network and just meet people with skills outside your own experience, and they even might be able to teach you about art or music etc. Make friends and with a little cash infusion you might even be able to convince them to make something for your projects. Yeah, most public places are infested with troons and the worst dregs of humanity, but at least in my experience if you make friends with the adults in the room they will usually introduce you to the people that are actually worth knowing.

If it weren't for the anonymous nature of the farms, I'd start a drawing club, but I'm not volunteering to start taking pictures of my drawings and uploading them to the site any time soon. Seriously though, not having drawing paper is an excuse. Drawing's one of those hobbies that doesn't take any special tools, any paper and pencil will do to start. Why do tomorrow what you can do today? Set aside an hour, or a half-hour even - anyone can find a half-hour of time - and start working through any of the good learn-to-draw books, You Can Draw, Fun With A Pencil, Drawing on the Left Side etc.

Do it daily and in a year or so you'll be thanking yourself.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Highly recommend "You can draw in 30 days" by Mark Kistler.

I've never heard of that one. I have "drawing on the right side of the brain" and "dynamic figure drawing". There's also a couple of comic drawing books I have. Good advice in those too.

I'd start a drawing club, but I'm not volunteering to start taking pictures of my drawings and uploading them to the site any time soon.

I know that feeling. At the same time, there's a bunch of clearly professional or semi professional artists posting their work (just look at the background) and as far as I know none have been doxed.

Love2D

I did some preliminary research, and I'm hesitant to use it.

I remember my XNA days where the external editor wouldn't co-operate, and when I finished requiring the end user to install a bunch of shit to get games working. A friend of mine made a few games with a similar framework (I forget what it was. It was before XNA.) and ran into the same problem. Granted, the games were nothing special (space invaders clone, platform game, poker, etc), but I don't want to have to fuck around installing and updating frameworks, compilers (I don't think Lua is compiled but you get what I mean), and other nonsense just to get it to work.

I don't know if Visual Studio has improved over the years, but that's what I see recommended. Back in the XNA days, I think it was that and Notepad++ that was always recommended.