Clinton Shepherd

@foolhardygames

Senior Game Designer at Mighty Games (Keywords). Coffee, game dev and painting minis, in no particular order... (he/him)

311 Folgt550 Follower179 Posts

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Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· 3d

Also I started making "Non-Noble" units, that instead of flaws have special bonuses and abilities. Of course the player wont ever get to use them (The game is first and foremost about being forced to contend with awful aristocrats), but I'm hoping they'll add some more challenge of the campaign

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· 3d

Been trying to setup a single-player campaign for current #pico8 project "Oh Nobles!" and progress has been a little slower than I'd like. So I took some time to bang out a little level editor to hopefully make things a little easier me. Pretty happy with the result so far

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· 8d

Alright, which one of you fuckers printed my super secret game design process on the side of your comically tiny truck? I told you that in confidence!

Small white truck in a laneway with the words “Design. Regret. Confess.”

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Jun 4

Been working on "Oh Nobles!" for a while now, and figure its about time I released something playable even if its not "finished yet". So if a quirky little #pico8 turn-based-strategy game about commanding awful aristocrats is of interest, you can find it here; foolhardygames.itch.io/oh-nobles

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· May 30

Found out you can edit #pico8 's config file to allow the recording of two minute long gifs, so here's two minutes of the "Oh Nobles!" gameplay, just cause I can

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· May 28

Now I'm no savvy business genius, so maybe I'm missing something. But agreeing to pay someone $250 million EVERY MONTH their game earns you just shy of $70 million does not seem... smart

Screen grab from the linked article of a paragraph reading; "Krafton now faces that $250 million bill after agreeing to pay $3.12 for every $1, or up to $250 million, to Unknown Worlds’ former shareholders every time the studio’s revenue topped $69.8 million a month since the Korean game developer acquired the U.S. firm in 2021. $250 million is equivalent to about 35% of Krafton’s operating profit last year."

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Apr 28

Look I’m no military expert, but I’m not sure they’ll really work that well underwater…

ABC News Headline: Coalition points to stealth bombers as potential AUKUS stop-gap

The Coalition says Australia should consider buying next generation stealth bombers to help bridge the gap until AUKUS submarines arrive.

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Apr 19

I had a such a great time doing death quips for the awful nobles in my game, I have now decided to let those nobles quip BEFORE EVERY TURN. Annoying? Absolutely, and that's the point! #pico8

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Mar 27

Honestly, had a lot of fun making this dumb little name generator...

Screenshot of "Oh Nobles" gameplay, with randomly generated battle name "The Battle of Puffing Tweed - Day 3"

Screenshot of "Oh Nobles" gameplay, with randomly generated battle name "The Battle of Eddington Grange - Day 2"

Screenshot of "Oh Nobles" gameplay, with randomly generated battle name "The Battle of Quinnsdale Charters - Day 1"

Screenshot of "Oh Nobles" gameplay, with randomly generated battle name "The Battle of Wennsburrow Estate - Day 1"

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Mar 27

With the core mechanics sorted "Oh Nobles!" needed a bit more character, so I created an "old stuffy place name" generator so I could randomly name the battles, and had all the nobles make a little quip when they get defeated. #pico8

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Mar 15

It's been a while, but my #pico8 project "Oh Nobles!"(the turn-based game where your units are overseen by awful aristocrats that make things worse for you) continues! Along with basic sounds and anims, I've gotten an early pass at a random map generator in, making each battle a little different

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Jan 2

Would you believe it gets worse?

The top half the Dan Murphy icons face looms down from part of Southern Cross station’s exit with the text “Dan knows” above…

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Dec 29

Been making the most of the Xmas/NYE time void by chipping away at my current #pico8 project; a little hex-grid, turn-based strategy game dubbed "Oh Nobles!". Currently have most of the core-gameplay down and a basic dumb-as-bricks AI to play against, so things are coming along nicely!

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Nov 16

It doesn't look like much, but I'm pretty happy with my initial attempt at some basic hex-based range-finding/pathing on this new #pico8 project. Still much more to do!

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Oct 26

I'm mostly just mocking up visuals and working out the layout at the moment, but I've started tentative steps towards my next little #pico8 project; an attempt to revisit a board game prototype I made about ten years ago that I originally didn't think would work digitally, but now...

Screen shot of a pico8 prototype showing a green field covered in a hex grid with 6 blue banners with different symbols down one end, and 6 pink banners with different symbols down the other. Small little 3 pixel high people gather under each banner. At the bottom of the screen there is a information window for the currently selected pink banner. It shows some unknown stats, a small portrait of a cross-eyed noble in a white wig, with the text "Marque De Foolhardy. Must move towards enemy" and then the letters of the alphabet from A to W (as a way of measuring how many letters can be displayed in a single line on that part of the screen)

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Oct 23

A: So we kinda fumbled that last one, but we need to name another coffee. What you got? B: “Mosaic”, sir. A: Ah! Many different flavours coming together to create an amazing coffee. Fantastic! What sort of coffee is it? B: Single Origin? A: …this is why people think we’re wankers

A small bag of coffee, branded “Mosaic” and labeled as being single origin

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Oct 8

A: What we calling our new wanky overpriced coffee? B: “Orthdox”, sir A: Love it! It sounds strict, traditional, singular. Do we have a slogan? B: Not yet sir A: Ah well, just slap something vaguely relevant on there. Can’t see how we’d fuck this up now… #CafeNarrativeDissonance

Photo of a bag of coffee beans. Text on the bag reads “Orthodox” followed by the sentence “Endless possibilities in coffee”

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Oct 4

There's x2 new Game Modes, Nightmare (extra hard mode), and Daily Assault (a daily challenge that defines specific order of skill drops and enemy spawns). The Mimic and Share Skill abilities I did a while back are finally in, which will absolutely cause chaos ...and probably wont break anything?

Screenshot of the main menu from the game The Bridge. The new "Daily Assault" game mode is highlighted and the tool tip at the bottom of the screen says the players high score for 4/10/2025 is only 468 (with the game ending before the charges are all placed)

Screenshot of the Results screen from the game The Bridge. The new "Share Skill" ability has been picked up by the Pink Crew member and has randomly given all the crew members the ability "Infini-Blast" ability

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Oct 4

Just put out a little update to "The Bridge" as there were a few extra features I thought I could squeeze into my #pico8 cart! You can check it on... Itch; foolhardygames.itch.io/the-bridge Lexaloffle; www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=148...

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Sep 28

Decided to grab myself a cheeky Sunday evening beer without paying attention and…

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Sep 9

I have been enjoying a lot of rad #pico8 games lately, but “From Rust to Ash” has been an absolute standout. I also had to share my first successful run as I felt I needed to record this achievement somewhere! 😆

“Run Ended” screen from the game “From Rust to Ash” running on an RGB30 handheld

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Sep 8

"The Bridge", my short, arcade-y, tower-defense-like is now up on @itch.io for anyone to play; foolhardygames.itch.io/the-bridge Use your limited crew of three to defend against an ever encroaching enemy until the infernal BRIDGE can be destroyed! #pico8 #gamedev

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Sep 4

It's been a while, but I've still been working on adding new stuff to "The Bridge". There's now an endless mode that scores points for each enemy you take out, so the longer you can survive the more points you get! #pico8 #gamedev

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Aug 2

Organising a weekend away at a beachside hut in the middle of winter seemed like a real risky proposition and I was fully prepared to huddle inside the entire time if necessary. But we somehow lucked into some incredible weather!

Two wine glasses, one empty, one full, on a wooden table looking out on the sea

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Jul 27

When we moved into our place my partner bemoaned the boring white walls common in modern houses these days. So we hatched a plan to do SOMETHING if we got the place repainted. It’s taken us two years and several attempts to find a painter, but we are stoked with the results

Photo of a wall with a massive single maroon red stripe that runs down the side of the stairs to level below

Another photo of the wall with the massive maroon red stripe, showing it ending at the very top of the wall where it meets the ceiling

Photo from the bottom of the stairs showing how maroon red stripe starts thinner near the bottom of the stair well before it gets wider/taller as the angle of the stairs increases.

A shot look down the stairs from the top, with the big red maroon stripe on the right

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Jul 20

Went and saw The Hives play at the Forum last night and it was an absolute banger of a show! Easily my favourite band to see live

The Hives on stage at the Forum theatre. The band are lit up by dramatic lighting and the word “HIVES” is spelled out above them with each letter written on big white sphere hanging from the rafters.

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Jul 15

Adding some new abilities to my #pico8 game The Bridge. Fun stuff like "Mimic" that randomly copies a crew member's ability whenever they swap position with them. Or "Skill Sharer", that applies one random ability from a crew member to the entire team. Will this break the game? Almost definitely 😅

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· Jun 20

I've been adding some special enemies to my #pico8 game to provide a little bit more of a challenge. These are probably my two favourites so far; an enemy that summons and invulnerable wall of googly eyes, and another that pressures the player by advancing EVERY turn (instead of every 2nd turn).

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· May 24

My complete overhaul of my #pico8 game "The Bridge" is almost at feature parity with the first demo/prototype! It's still missing sounds and mouse support, but I've added bunch extra features and optimisations, including the ability to choose skill upgrades (instead of just randomly assigning one).

Clinton Shepherd@foolhardygames· May 24

I seem to be acquiring more little machines to run my little #pico8 projects on! A big thanks to @kosmologyb.bsky.social for gifting this PocketChip, it’s a neat little piece of kit!