Tony Gowland
@Tony_Gowland
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Indie dev making games & chatting about the games industry. ex Rockstar & Activision, now MD of @antworkshop Our latest game:
Edinburgh, UK
Joined February 2009
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Into the Restless Ruins is a roguelike deckbuilder where you build the dungeon you auto-battle through. Brave the cursed labyrinth in the Scottish Highlands to please the Harvest Maiden, and beware the Warden.
Give it a wishlist on Steam, please!
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lol if you think indie is any easier or more stable than AAA I’ve got ̶a̶ ̶b̶r̶i̶d̶g̶e̶ 14,000+ games released on Steam last year that you’ve never even heard of, to sell you.
There are established indies with track records closing down cause they can’t raise funds to survive.
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An old robot finds new purpose building a home for cats long after the end of our world.
We're prototyping "Neko Atsume" x "80 Days" x "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts" and were wondering if it's a game folks might be interested in?
#indie
#gamedev
#madewithunity
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Unity devs with upcoming Gamepass launches suddenly hoping _not_ to get installs.
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Remember the goal is to ship games, not make the neatest and most elegant code routines.
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Imagine giving an indie developer this advice with a straight face, in 2024.
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WE RELEASED A GAME
oh my gosh
Swing into multiplayer mini golf mayhem!!!!!!
Dungeon Golf is OUT NOW
⛳️🐸😈🧙💀✨
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I've been in the industry for over 20 years now and let me tell you with certainty the best way to get in to the industry is to make maps for Quake then pre-1.6 Counter Strike, and keep an eye out for job listings on PlanetHalflife's mapping forums.
I’ve been in the games industry for nearly four years now, and I have to say I get a bit uncomfortable seeing other developers on social media giving advice on entering the industry in absolutes. Anyone who is hoping to break into the industry comes on here and sees…
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AAA -> Indie, most of those devs don't know what they don't know. Big companies shield you from so much stuff so you can just concentrate on doing your bit and don't have to think about everything else. It's a steep learning curve even in good times.
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The middle across every entertainment and adjacent industry is being gutted. You either need to be massive, or so small and cheap you can afford multiple failures.
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@RealGamerGeek
@thegamerwebsite
Twitter shows you that tweet's only had 6,679 views. So 96 likes out of 6,679 views = 0.014 likes per view.
Your reply has 278 views and 1 like = 0.004 likes per view.
That should really tell you something.
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Uk folks - did you know about the shield when you combine these coins? Our 9 year old has blown my mind
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Honestly where on earth does the idea that “AAA games aren’t made by gamers” come from?
You think people work in these industry conditions for shits & giggles? They do it because they love video games.
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It’s no secret that Dungeon Golf sold way less than we’d hoped. But it’s lovely to get comments like these from people enjoying it with their friends and families.
Leave Steam reviews for games you like - I promise you, it’ll make the developer’s day.
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@MckKirk
You can't even mildly criticise a guy any more or you'll get sent to prison these days.
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@garrynewman
Yep, this is the thing to me. We pay for our Pro licenses up-front knowing that any revenue then is ours. That after 2 years of dev they can just add this back-end tax if our game happens to be successful? Nah.
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Usually you would support your new studio with work for hire. But not right now. We have pedigree and experience and contacts, and work for hire is incredibly thin on the ground. We've managed to land 2 bits of work in ~5 months. The contrast to 3 years ago is staggering.
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But investment is much tougher to land right now. Turn up to a pitch with "we're a team of ex-AAA folks and we're going to spend the next 3 years making a III game" will get you nowhere.
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May or may not delete this later, I don't want to come across as the cynical grumpy indie guy trying to pull up the ladder and put other people off.
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The first one, _maybe two_, studios set up by "laid off former [insert AAA] employees" will be able to get some brief press out of it, then people won't care. It's like the first rush of games Kickstarters.
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Because it’s launch day, we’ve got a lovely new launch trailer!
#DeadEndJob
is OUT NOW on Switch, Xbox One, PS4 and Steam!
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When did it become ok for indies to ask people to do work for free but “I’ll put you in the credits”?
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Gamescom merch just arrived - come play Dungeon Golf in the Indie Arena Booth (hall 10.2) to get a fan from this coquettish beauty
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Another person in the same thread saying that it’s a brilliant time for indies right now and only AAA studios are having trouble, because of shareholders.
Good lord.
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Reminder that we've got a rare opening for a 🎨Junior Artist🎨 to come and join us at
@AntWorkshop
. If you're looking for your first games art role in the UK we'd love to hear from you!
#hiring
#gamejobs
#gamedevjobs
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Have this sneaky wee peek. at Into the Restless Ruins in action...
Want to
#deckbuild
a dungeon? Playtest signups coming soon (link in thread) - in the meantime wishlist on Steam pls.
#indiegames
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@Tettric
honestly agree. I think taking an unrelated job and doing indie dev as a hobbyist is probably the smart move for a lot of these folks, for the next couple of years at least.
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@themichaelest
@Tlacuwise
@innesmck
@Xythar
This sounds very clever but actually it's impossible to knock a person over with a feather.
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Hey folks, we're looking for a generalist artist to join our team
@AntWorkshop
- please share this with any pals you think would be suitable cause I have no idea how well visibility works on this site any more.
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Saw someone on LinkedIn posting smack talk about how QA is all shit these days, so I clicked their profile to see what they do. They work for a QA outsourcer.
They must have got a notification I looked cause now they're in my DMs asking if we need any QA!
oh no.
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Holy shit Dungeon Golf’s in the Next Fest trailer! While I pick my jaw up off the floor, go and play our demo (now with online multiplayer!)
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Dungeon Golf comes to Steam on Sept 18th!
Mini golf in a dungeon with monsters, character classes, special abilities, screwing over your friends, single player quest mode, challenges, traps, bots, jokes, and LOCAL & ONLINE mp for 4 players!
Give it a wishlist & get involved!
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Game developed in Scotland won two BAFTAs on the year
@BAFTAScotland
decided not to run a games category. 😬
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If you’re not following the
@AntWorkshop
TikTok account you’re missing out on some top behind the scenes nonsense.
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Thought about signing up for Mastodon or Cohort or whatever, then decided actually if the bird dies it's probably just healthier for me to cut down on social media use.
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Imagine being at a party where people talk like they post on LinkedIn. Absolute psychopaths.
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To the tune of Eleanor Rigby:
🎵Junior Artist
Wanting to make funny things, in a minigolf theme?
Come join our team!🎵
A reminder we have a 🎨Junior Artist🎨 role we're looking to fill, if you want to work on this. Will be a great first step in to the industry for someone!
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What I’ve discovered is that even the lowest scoring games you’ve worked on, at some point in the future people will message you about how they loved that game. There’s an entire fan community around mine - at the time a review said would ruin the Christmas of any kid who got it.
Games are hard to make. Regardless of the score, every project has positives/lessons learned.
I display my "lowest score" game because I'm proud of the time I had working with some of my favorite people in this industry.
Some things are out of your hands. Be kind to each other.
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I really enjoyed WASD because it combined two of my hobbies: video games; and smelling overwhelmingly of meat.
(It was very good, and filled with top people and games, and the industry party was ace, but maybe next year have the food stalls outside?)
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@StateOfLinkedIn
“Even if people beg you not to, still show up” is how you get a restraining order.
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Lovely bit of ☠️skeleton-on-skeleton☠️ action!
One of the GIFs we added to Dungeon Golf's Steam page this week.
#screenshotsaturday
#indiedev
#gamedev
#Golf
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@jadel4w
Yeah I think in small studios bring as transparent as possible with the team is the best choice. I’ve found they really appreciate the honesty and knowing what’s going on, and also helps them realise I’m not just sat on my arse twiddling my thumbs all day 😂
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Quick vid showing 3 months of Into the Restless Ruins, from prototype to alpha. What a glow up.
(Give it a wishlist on Steam pls)
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A reminder we have a 🎨Junior Artist🎨 role we're looking to fill, if you want to work on this. Will be a great first step in to the industry for someone!
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Wait so he fired all of those people because he didn't want to make more Bioshock and then ... ended up just making another Bioshock?
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I'm going to be at
@WASDlive_
with a build on my
#SteamDeck
(yes it plays brilliantly on it) so if you're press or an influencer and want to get an early hands on, or talk about the ideas behind it (as long as you promise to redact my mum's age) gimme a shout.
WHAT THE!? It’s Dungeon Golf, our new party game!
Pick a goofy golfer, whack balls, and defeat monsters. Tour solo or against friends.
Get the par tee started! 🥳🏌️
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We're looking for a generalist coder and a comms & marketing coordinator to come and join our small well funded indie team! Come work with this bunch of brillo people, we’d love to hear from you!
Full details:
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Good people doing good things - indies, would thoroughly recommend chatting to Neonhive if you're looking for a publisher, to see if there's a good fit.
(Also if you get signed as a result of seeing this tweet I want 5%)
Say hello to Neonhive Games, our new publishing label!
We're a publisher AND an award winning agency. You focus on making, we handle the rest 💜
Visit our website for more (indie devs we're looking at you 👀)
✨
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Dungeon Golf is out now on Steam!
Mini golf in a dungeon with monsters, character classes, special abilities, screwing over your friends, single player quest mode, challenges, traps, bots, jokes, and LOCAL & ONLINE mp for 4 players!
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Into the Restless Ruins has got more Steam wishlists in one month than Dungeon Golf got in 3.
Deckbuild a dungeon to battle through. Can you survive the horde and defeat The Warden?
Wishlist here 👉
#indiegame
#deckbuilder
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Paid the Steam fee for what is probably our next game. Wooooooo. Hoping to start sharing stuff very soon.
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Had a great
@developconf
as always. Lots of great catch ups and chats, meeting new folks, and of course showing Dungeon Golf’s new single player mode. Thanks to everyone who took the time to come and play and say hello.
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14.85km this morning, training up for our
@SpecialEffect
fundraising runs later in the year! As you can see from my face, I felt this one!
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@dannyodwyer
Great video, pretty much sums up how pitching has been for the last half a decade - though general world/industry money issues have made life tougher over the last year. Publishers have been cutting projects that they've signed, so it's not even "you signed, now you're good".
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Generally I’m on the side of “let people enjoy things” but the the coronation is so completely out of whack with the cost of living crisis it’s sickening.
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Taking this as an opportunity to say “I’m done” and uninstall this crack. Steam mutuals please stage an intervention if you see me playing again.
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Feels absolutely wild to be sending early versions of Into the Restless Ruins out to folks when it's only had 2 months of dev time. We held on to Dungeon Golf for so long.
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I’m a simple man - I see an astronomically bad take about how amazing Musk is for forcing people to be in the office at 1am, and I block the person who made that take and every bought blue-tick loser who agrees with it.
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Are you
a) Press or a publisher or a streamer or a cool person?
b) Going to WASD on Thursday next week?
c) Interested in seeing Into the Restless Ruins _in person_?
If a+b+c drop me a DM.
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Valve have just confirmed what we already knew - Dungeon Golf plays great on the Steam Deck! Grab a copy and golf on the go while you Halloween party this weekend
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Really wish I was going to Reboot Develop but we've got exciting stuff going on next week...
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Did you see this yet? Multiplayer minigolf but with monsters and daft characters and special abilities and aftertouch and all kind of nonsense. Will be sharing a lot more over the coming months, but for now can you give the tweet a like & share, and give it a wishlist on steam? x
WHAT THE!? It’s Dungeon Golf, our new party game!
Pick a goofy golfer, whack balls, and defeat monsters. Tour solo or against friends.
Get the par tee started! 🥳🏌️
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1) Check out our banging new trailer (by
@iamasnarkypant
)
2) Go to Steam and join the playtest
3) Send us your feedback so we can make the game even better!
🏌️♀️ Join the
#DungeonGolf
Playtest today! 🏌️♀️
Get your clubs ready to harness un-fore-gettable abilities, defeat menacing monsters, and become the GUDGOAT (Greatest Ultimate Dungeon Golfer of All Time)!
Who will you tee up as? 💪 Buff Barbarian, 🧙 Wily Wizard or 🐸 Musical Frog?
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Check out our new trailer and EARLY ACCESS LAUNCH DATE!!!1!!
(Would love it if you could spread this far and wide, and a wee wishlist on steam wouldn’t go amiss either 😘)
Swing into action!
Dungeon Golf is putting to PC September 18
⛳️🐸😈🧙💀✨
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If you ever wonder why some indie games don't come to your console of choice...
@Tony_Gowland
My game did get more sales on Xbox! 3 more sales to be exact 😂 at a cost of... $4000 in unity licenses. I made about -$3500 from it 👍 that's negative. Negative $3500.
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the last 2 months have been a rollercoaster but today we're all the way up to 7 baybeeeee!
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Just about to kick off a summer of running and fundraising with
@AntWorkshop
for
@SpecialEffect
!
#kilomathon
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Last day of work for 2022 for me. It's been a brillo year for
@AntWorkshop
, focusing on developing Dungeon Golf with the support of
@ChromaVentures
. Still not showing anything off right now, but 2023 is going to be filled with crazy fantasy mingolf silliness.
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Not exhibiting, but I'll be at
@WASDlive_
with this on my Steamdeck on Thursday and (hangover dependant) Friday morning if you fancy a look.
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Dungeon Golf is in the Guardian's list of brilliant games you might have missed in 2023. It's also in the Steam Winter Sale right now - you know what to do!
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Looked at the first 20 tweets on my feed.
* 2 were from people I followed
* 5 sponsored ads
* 7 tweets “liked” by someone I follow
* 6 random tweets from people followed by people I follow.
What a shitshow of not letting me curate what I see.
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Always bought these for games I loved. Kinda surprised that there isn’t a company making them as limited editions for indie games, like happens with physical editions.
Video game strategy guides are such a beautiful, lost art.
They're gorgeous physical visualisations of a game's world, lore, and artwork, often contain the only printed versions of official key art, and are monumental writing tasks that I have always awed and envied.
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That's me done for the year. It's been ... interesting. Lots of ups and downs. Releasing Dungeon Golf (83% positive on Steam) was a real highlight, even if the market proved to be tougher than we expected. Still, exciting plans afoot for 2024.
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The indie game I'm making and three of the inspirations behind it.
The indie game I'm making and three of the inspirations behind it.
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Good luck to chums
@wearevillainous
and
@Neonhive
for the launch of Harvest Hunt today, got all my digits crossed for you!
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Gonna start sharing more of this really soon. You aren't ready for how satisfying it is to build a cursed dungeon. Give it the ol' Steam wishlist please.
Into the Restless Ruins is a roguelike deckbuilder where you build the dungeon you auto-battle through. Brave the cursed labyrinth in the Scottish Highlands to please the Harvest Maiden, and beware the Warden.
Give it a wishlist on Steam, please!
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This article has driven a decent sized chunk of wishlists this weekend, which has been lovely. Thanks very much
@PCGamesN
!
Lovely to get our first bit of press for Into the Restless Ruins. Had a very nice chat with PCGamesN at WASD this week.
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Lovely to get our first bit of press for Into the Restless Ruins. Had a very nice chat with PCGamesN at WASD this week.
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The real Develop Hero is the lady walking the expo handing out ice pops.
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XNA was ace. Write games and deploy them to your retail 360!
20 years ago today, Microsoft announced XNA Game Studio, a free set of tools for game development, worked on Windows, Xbox 360 and Windows Phone. This tool helped thousands of devs getting started, including well know companies today. today would be very different w it.
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So proud of our senior artist Paula - an absolute superstar whose art and leadership skills go from strength to strength. Very well deserved award!
Ahh! Absolutely blown away that I was chosen for the MCV 30 under 30 this year!! ✨💖✨
Massive thank you to everyone that nominated me and supported me, it means the world!!
#IRL
#30under30
@MCV_DEVELOP
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18k in 16 degree heat, really glad I bought a running pack last weekend!
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