A curated weekly blog for game developers featuring standout news, free tools, useful resources, indie discoveries, and limited-time deals worth checking out.
In this week’s post
- Key stories from creators including Matt Hackett, Code Monkey, and Harry Phokou
- Awesome new Image compression, batch blender exporting, dials and materials tools
- New free games this week, top affiliate deals, and interesting games I found this week
- New card battler course from Gamedev.tv, now you can slay the spire!
- Unreal Engine 6 revealed!
Welcome
I hope you are all doing well this week
Each post will round up game development news, newly discovered tools, free games, interesting creators to follow, standout indie projects, asset packs, and useful resources.
I hope you find something useful here each week. If anything stands out to you — or if there’s something you’d like to see included in future posts — let me know in the comments.
This week I’ve been working on making some content templates for social media and YouTube, having so much personal responsibility at home, I need to find ways of working smarter, so making templates will enable me to improve my video quality and enable me to release videos faster, and hopefully reach more people.
I’ve been playing some new games this week:
SurrounDead a fresh new open world low poly zombie game, even though it’s not steam deck verified, after a few controller mapping tweaks it works perfectly on it and feel great on the steam deck!
Collie Companion I’ve been trying this new cosy dog desktop companion game in which you have your own sheepdog on your desktop that herds sheep of the screen!
One Rotten Oath I played the demo for this game and it’s something unique and completely different experience than I was expected but a real refreshing shift in a narrative experience.
Weekly news roundup
New Unreal Engine 6, New Witcher 3 expansion, is indie funding getting harder?
Unreal Engine 6 Announced
Epic dropped a new teaser trailer for Unreal Engine 6 using Rocket league in game footage.
It only feels like last year that Unreal Engine 5 was released, and seems like people are unsure how the performance is going to be, however the game footage from Rocket league looks incredible, but we will have to see what it looks like when it arrives.
Currently there is no technical specs and no official release date
You can what the video here:
Matt Hackett
Matt is an Indie dev and the writer of 📙 How to Make a Video Game All By Yourself, podcaster and has some popular game developer Comics and cheat sheets.
He has a lot of gamedev resources, tips and insights in game development, check out his website here
In this blog he talks about finally releasing his game demo Pixel Washer
You take control of an adorable piggy and blast grime off stunning pixelated worlds with your trusty power washer. Scrub through charming levels, uncovering vibrant pixel art hidden beneath layers of dirt and filth. Earn coins, upgrade your gear, and work your way through a whole grimy town - one satisfying spray at a time.
I played a few levels on the demo and it’s kind of fun, but looking forward to seeing how this turns out upon full release.
You can read the full blog here
Code Monkey
This week Code Monkey talks about the new Unreal engine 6 announcement, why games cost so much, the unexpected release of a Witcher 3 expansion after 11 years and more”
You can read the full blog here
New Harry Phokou podcast
Harry talks to Pontus Maehler, co-founder of Agora Gaming Partners, former e-sports pro talking about “Why are indie game funding deals getting harder in 2026?”
If you’re looking for a publisher for your game this video has some great advice and things I didn’t think of, it’s an important one to watch
Here's what to expect from this Gaming Playbook:
- Why equity is 10% as accessible as it was two years ago
- Why project financing is replacing VC for most indie studios
- What "vertical slice plus" actually means in 2026
- Why 50/50 is the new standard and why you should still push back
- The changelog tactic that gets publishers to take you seriously
- Why you should stop pitching the same game at every event
- The China opportunity most Western devs are sleeping on
- Why Chinese publishers want to talk to you 6 months before launch, not 3
- How to think about whether you actually need outside funding at all
- Why mechanics-based audiences outlast every trend
New Tools Worth Trying
Material Maker - You can create PBR materials using graphs where nodes create and transform textures. Export materials for use in game engines and movie assets.
Squoosh - Open-source image compression web app that does all the work locally
Export helper Pro - A Blender add-on for batch exporting objects and collections to FBX, glTF, and OBJ formats with engine-specific presets for Unity, Unreal, and Godot.
Dials – If you need dials for your game this tool is perfect, with tons of customisation options!
Free games this week
Tell Me Why is the latest narrative adventure game from DONTNOD Entertainment, the studio behind the beloved franchise, Life is Strange. In this intimate mystery, reunited twins Tyler and Alyson Ronan use their supernatural bond to unravel the memories of their loving but troubled childhood. Set in beautiful small-town Alaska, Tell Me Why features true-to-life characters, mature themes and gripping choices.
As you conjure up memories of the past, your choices will affect the twins’ relationship, determine the strength of their bond, and shape the course of their lives.
Grab it for free on the steam store until 07/07/26
Raise mighty armies, wield ancient magic and forge an empire. This turn-based strategy adventure game fuses strategic decision making, tactical combat and kingdom management.
Free on the Epic store until 11/06/26
Rogue Waters is a Pirate Tactical Turn-Based Rogue-lite. Play as Captain Cutter, commanding your ship and crew through procedurally generated encounters to seek revenge. Recruit, train, and upgrade crew, use powerful sea creatures, and engage in dynamic naval and melee combat to gain the upper hand
Free on the Epic store until 11/06/26
Free assets this week
Free on the Fab store until 16/06/26:
Affiliate deals
This section includes selected partner offers I think are genuinely useful for game developers. Some links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you
New Card battler course from Gamedev.TV Unity Card Battler: Code a Deck-Building Card Game in C#
Ready to Slay the Spire with this brand-new card Battler course?
Build a complete card battler in Unity 6 - decks, turns, unique cards and a boss who hits back.
You'll build drag-and-snap cards, a turn-based combat system, C# Events architecture that won't turn into spaghetti and a boss who actually hits back.
Grab it with a 95% off discount!
Down from $195 to only $10!
Get it here before the discount ends!
GameDev.tv Game Jam Bundle
If you’re preparing for a jam or building up your dev toolkit, this bundle stands out: more than $1,100 worth of game development assets and courses for just $30. Grab it here before it ends on 6 June.
The bundle includes a broad mix of creator-made assets covering characters, environments, audio, tools, and more.
A nice extra: 10% of every purchase goes to the GameDev.tv Indie Dev Fund, which helps support indie developers building and finishing their games.
Hurry this ends 06 June 2026!
Interesting games I found this week
Looking for a desktop Companion?
Collie companion is a cozy desktop idle game where your personal collie companion lives on your screen
I’ve been playing the game this week and it’s a nice cozy game that you don’t need much effort to play and is a nice change of pace for me with my busy lifestyle.
I’ve been speaking to the solo developer this week and he is very excited to share his first game release on steam and is constantly working on this game in his spare time, go check it out on steam here
Currently £4.13 hurry ends 09 June 2026!
🐑Herd sheep
🫘Feed
⚽️play
🪙buy upgrades
One Rotten Oath is a Full motion game +FPS hybrid with horror elements. The video clips and stills were shot in Tczew and Gdansk (Poland). The game was developed by Piotr Bunkowski - now 27 years old independent video game developer, who created his first game “A Trip to Yugoslavia” in 2016 - while being in High School.
The developer mentioned that they cut almost everything here frame-by-frame (aside from FMVs between levels).
I just played the demo today and it’s quiet an interesting experience, at first glance might seem a bit basic, however once you play through the demo more it becomes a unique game to play, the demo is about 20 mins long, but if your looking for something that’s a bit different go check it out here
Channels and sites to follow
Matt Hackett
Matt has an amazing web site, filled with tons of resources to help you get started. He is a game dev, doing regular podcasts and has published a book called ‘How to make a video game all by yourself’.
He has made some great cheat sheets like this steam page cheat sheet
Generally, really useful practical advice and tips.
Website: https://www.valadria.com/start-here/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Valadria/featured
Twitter: https://twitter.com/richtaur
Follow and support
Thanks for taking the time to read this week’s post. If you found it useful — or there’s something you’d like me to include next time — let me know in the comments below.
You can find me on Facebook, X, Bluesky and Discord — and if you’d like to support what I’m building, you can also support me on Ko-fi.
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