thomastc | frozenfractal

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@thomastc

Making games under the name Frozen Fractal.

Currently working on Around The World (working title), a #roguelite game about navigation, exploration and discovery in the Age of Sail. The header picture shows a preview.

100% GenAI and LLM free.

Making games + not a dick = insta-follow.

I almost exclusively toot in English but may reply in Dutch and broken German as well.

#gamedev #indiedev #indiegamedev #indiegame #godotengine #godot

Website: https://frozenfractal.com
Portfolio: https://frozenfractal.com/games
Devblog: https://frozenfractal.com/blog
Pronouns: he/him, they/them

Public Key

npub1uzs9gae7e9nnn5eywl0s4utmtxp0u6795853zx06ufhd7waxnvmsts46wf

NIP-05 Address

thomastc_at_mastodon.gamedev.place@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqswpgz5wulvjeee6vj80hc279a4nqh7d0z6r6g3r8awymkl8wnfkdcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dswrgy8h

Publishing to

nostr.mom

nos.lol

relay.damus.io

Author Public Key

npub1uzs9gae7e9nnn5eywl0s4utmtxp0u6795853zx06ufhd7waxnvmsts46wf

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Published at

2026-05-08T12:00:02Z

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Event JSON

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Last Notes

2026-02-10 15:43:37 UTC

Interaction between incoming waves and the coast. The effect is based purely on local depth. As the waves approach the shallows, they get shorter and taller, until a point where they suddenly lose a lot of amplitude.
If the wind blows away from the shore, though, this becomes a mess. I'll need to check the gradient of the distance to the coast and inhibit the effect.
#GameDev #IndieDev #IndieGame #GodotEngine #Godot #ProceduralGeneration #ProcGen
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/116/047/042/363/264/237/original/c3f5b015651030e5.mp4

2026-02-10 14:53:07 UTC

Nope, no bugs here. What are you talking about?
#GameDev #IndieDev #IndieGame #GodotEngine #Godot
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/116/046/897/771/192/012/original/4b34c35160285e8f.mp4

2026-01-10 15:29:50 UTC

- reply

Supermooi artikel, dank voor het delen! Ik heb een vergelijkbare woning, en dacht altijd dat balansventilatie niet realistisch was omdat je overal twee kanalen naartoe moet hebben. Dit klinkt als een interessante tussenweg!

2025-04-07 18:17:09 UTC

- reply

Or they just scanned the binary for the string "patreon.com"...

2025-03-02 17:40:51 UTC

- reply

I once heard that Steam's terms forbade that... am I misinformed or just outdated?

2025-01-15 18:59:39 UTC

This is awesome: play Zork and see its internal workings at the same time. https://blog.zarfhome.com/2025/01/the-visible-zorker
Its creator @npub10qk…n28t is also on Mastodon!
#gamedev

2024-12-25 11:41:28 UTC

New blog post is up:
https://frozenfractal.com/blog/2024/12/25/around-the-world-20-two-steps-forward-one-step-back/
Not all work results in forward progress...
#indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #godotengine #godot

2024-12-14 20:14:46 UTC

So I tried to implement an anisotropic Kuwahara filter, and it ended up looking like a blurry JPEG. *sad trombone*
Debugging is for tomorrow though!
#gamedev #indiedev #godotengine #godot
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/652/997/161/816/706/original/b9df1b2254d80752.png

2024-10-01 12:01:38 UTC

Doing some papercraft debugging. It's probably not the most efficient way to go about it, but it lets me get away from the screen for a bit.
#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/232/050/597/640/870/original/71039d421453c2e0.jpg

2024-09-30 15:29:07 UTC

Just some random atmospheric screenshots.
#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godotengine #godot
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/227/206/289/517/514/original/8d691c25891ab629.png
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/227/208/518/421/780/original/d4003de290b80f55.png

2024-09-29 21:30:56 UTC

Making decent progress on #sky rendering.
- First image: #godot's built-in PhysicalSkyMaterial.
- Second image: my own shader, performing a single-scatter ray march with 64 equidistant steps.
It needs a lot of optimization, but it already looks a lot better than the default.
#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godotengine
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/222/968/249/455/414/original/c2382f2e35a2cef6.png
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/222/971/279/554/199/original/81e55aa2b634b13c.png

2024-09-27 17:22:42 UTC

Having some fun writing my own sky shader, because Godot's built-in one doesn't give me pretty enough sunsets. There's a lot of work to be done yet, but the sky is already blue!
#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godotengine #godot
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/210/664/613/413/697/original/21753639fab98a0c.png

2024-09-27 11:22:44 UTC

Welcome to Cosine Land.
#gamedev #indiedev #indiegame #godotengine #godot
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/209/253/707/642/096/original/bf1cce8699b214da.png

2024-09-25 17:52:06 UTC

Oops, I think I broke something.
#gamedev #indiedev #godotengine #godot
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/199/459/991/611/796/original/a738a482d15ae8f7.mp4

2024-09-20 18:14:01 UTC

Oh dear. I thought I had settled on a top-down view, but honestly, views like this can be *spectacular*. And this one doesn't even have any land in it! I'll have to add this perspective as an option, at least.
#godotengine #godot #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/171/219/991/790/440/original/84f055cafd80ea7f.png

2024-09-18 15:14:48 UTC

Testing a new terrain algorithm using discrete chunks, rather than LOD meshes.
#godotengine #godot #gamedev #indiedev
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/159/203/613/814/754/original/71e01e05c10ac91e.mp4

2024-09-17 12:46:20 UTC

Sailing the Godocean.
#godotengine #godot #gamedev #indiedev
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/152/961/009/368/354/original/488ff7474f388231.png

2024-09-15 11:42:11 UTC

Work in progress on my #programming game. You can already play the first 6 levels here:
https://workuntildone.frozenfractal.com/ Feedback is very welcome! I have about 6 hours left to improve things!
#alakajam #gamejam #gamedev #indiedev
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/141/378/899/361/757/original/777eeb4d69ba3a16.png

2024-09-14 22:07:11 UTC

Making progress! The base mechanic is implemented, I have 4 levels, and scores are being tracked.
Title is placeholder. I'm sure I can come up with something better.
#alakajam #gamejam #gamedev #indiedev
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/138/173/478/159/683/original/f774ea3b142de540.png
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/138/179/069/235/087/original/611985daf92c627d.png

2024-09-14 10:00:13 UTC

Got the basic UI in place. The buttons work, although the Play button does nothing. Can you guess what this game is going to be?
#alakajam #gamejam #gamedev #indiedev
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/135/319/161/782/894/original/b806b1d8ebc985d2.png

2024-09-13 19:08:24 UTC

The 20th @npub1xh2…wlv7 #gamejam just started! Theme: "In a loop". Not my favourite, but it'll have to do!
#gamedev #indiedev

2024-09-05 15:01:02 UTC

When gameplay and realism collide...
The player sees their ship in a top-down view, and clicks where they want the ship to go. The sea might not be deep enough everywhere, limiting where the ship can go. This is fine.
The problem is: what happens if the ship runs aground? Right now I made it gradually slow down, the closer it gets to that point, but it's nonobvious and it can still run aground. Having a hard "wall" preventing this would be good, but then... 1/2
#gamedev #gamedesign #indiedev

2024-09-04 15:17:17 UTC

Didn't get a whole lot done today, but I did add some lights to the ship that turn on at night. It gives a nice fairy-tale effect.
#gamedev #indiedev #godotengine #godot
https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/media_attachments/files/113/079/939/673/731/536/original/8dcdd8bea08b86bf.png

2024-08-11 10:06:22 UTC

I really really want to work on my game but I have family duty today and contract work stuff next week and a bunch of somewhat urgent gardening and and and arrrgh!