Game Dev Corner | Occybyte

Datorien's Game Dev Corner

This is my systems-first game design corner: where I share practical artifacts, scorecards, and memos I use to ship under real constraints. Below are selected, self-contained documents intended for stakeholders and designers to align fast and iterate with numbers.

Genre Rubrics

Two dedicated rubric pages are maintained: one for RPG classification and one for Extraction Shooter systemic analysis. They are intentionally separate because they evaluate different design problems, with different scoring models and decision criteria.

Open RPG Rubric RPG PDF

Open Extraction Shooter Rubric Extraction PDF

Selected Design Artifacts

Game Loop Primer Helldivers 2 [PDF, 2 pp] Download
TL;DR: A stakeholder memo that disambiguates core / progression / meta / playerdefined loops using HD2, maps the real core loop (Pick Land Extract), and frames time as the primary antagonist driving risk/reward and cadence.
What to look for:

Plainlanguage loop taxonomy for nondesigners
Concrete step mapping (extraction rules, stratagem cooldowns, resource flow)
Liveops angle: why loop clarity matters for engagement/KPIs

Case Study Entropy Microdemo [PDFs + Repo] Open Case Study
TL;DR: A/B seeding (PRNG vs ERIS) across multiple LLMs; highquality entropy alters exploration paths, reduces certain failure modes, and surfaces more structured behaviors in capable models.

Case Study Die Roller Demo [PDFs] Open Case Study
TL;DR: 100k+ d20 rolls. ERIS preserves variance and resists local minima; PRNG stabilizes into uniform mimicry. Exploration vs fairness.

Old School Coursework and Era stuff

Mechanical Deconstruction playlist
Agent Card Simulation Google Sheets: Open
Character Balancing Google Sheets: Open
Agent Card Simulation (local .xlsx): Download
Character Balance (local .xlsx): Download
Solomons Gambit RegulatoryCompliant Casino Matrix (local .xlsx): Download (Historical academic compliance, circa 2020)

PostMortem POV: Pixelshift [PDF, 12 pp] Download
TL;DR: Prototype ownership under shifting scope. GDD POC prototype; multiple systems integrated; risks, pivots, and Unity migration documented so delivery didnt roll the dice.
What to look for:

Shipped/refactored systems (TimeTrial, Elimination, POVswitching, Level/Calendar, 3Cs overhaul)
Risk & scope control (>300 hrs logged; hiring needs and deadline churn called out)
Clear what went right / wrong / next with actionable recommendations

Primer Prompting, Tokenization, and Input Parsing for Games [PDF] Download
TL;DR: Prompt outcomes hinge on set theory and semanticsnot rote arithmetic. Disambiguate scope, units, and partitions (singular vs plural; one word vs a list) to avoid gotcha prompts and yield stable, checkable answers.
What to look for:

Explicit units: define the token (e.g., 'e'), word form, and whether written once or per item
Partition awareness: Paths A/B/C produce different totalsdifferent partitions, different answers
Unambiguous quantifiers: use counts/ and constraints instead of colloquialisms
Style attractors: avoid phrasing that nudges models into stock patterns; prefer neutral schema

Applied Metaphysics of Game Design Entropy & Information Systems [PDF] Download
TL;DR: Randomness becomes visible when fair PRNGs settle into attractors (local minima) that feel stuck. Treat games as applied metaphysics of state and entropy; favor temporally aware (1/f) randomness with memory so long sequences stay fair, exploratory, and surprising.
What to look for:

Where randomness shows up: loot scarcity and longrun perception vs statistical fairness
PRNG attractors/local minima: seeds + play history can lock into safe patterns
Rare events need scale: sub1% drops may require 7k500k trials to observe
Temporal memory: stateful RNG and pinknoise (1/f) processes for evolving surprise
Physics as rules: games instantiate causality; micromacro inversion yields emergence; design is HCI/information

Castles Burning 4page jam RPG [PDF, 4 pp] Open on itch.io
TL;DR: Constraint exercise: shipped under a hard 4page cap with a novel existence lever. Peer feedback flagged the premise as captivatingly alien and asked for appendicesexactly the next step postjam.
What to look for:

Distinctive core pressure expressed in rules, not prose
Timeboxed scope discipline and runnable procedures
Notes that map directly to an expanded, postjam release

Paper Prototypes / TRPGs

Release Snapshot: Publisher: White Wolf | Title: A Fourth Axis: Modern Blood Composition | SKU: MIOTHEZDIHST0001 | Units Sold: 120+ (3 months)

New to integrating content into established IP workflows; iterating and improving with each release.

More on my itch.io profile: thyarcanist.itch.io

GDDs corner: GitHub repository

Principles

Systems first. Settings rules consequences.
Evidence over aesthetics. If it doesnt change state, its art direction, not design.
Clarity under pressure. Ship inside constraints; document the why; iterate with numbers.