Launching Stackality

How’d we get here, you might ask? First things first, welcome to Stackality! My name’s Levi, and I’m here to help you make something.

By professional trade, I’m in Engineering, Construction Inspection and – by title – a Senior Project Manager (at the time of this writing, who knows) in the telecommunications industry. I’m probably not the person you’d expect to post content about gaming, game development, programming… or maybe I am.

I have a history of web-dev. I started making websites when I was in my early teens. It started as an educational fun, ended with helping several individuals and groups publish websites, forums and repositories. And of course, I played video games. Like most people, life got a good grip on me and kept me occupied for many long years. Work, riding motorcycles, maintaining the house, paying bills, and raising children doesn’t leave time for much else. One day you’re 20, then suddenly you wake up middle-aged and tired all of the time.

About 2-3 years ago, I got back into gaming and not just on my phone. I bought a PS5 and dumped countless hours into what us adults affectionately call brainrot. I’m disciplined enough to admit my time management and hobbies are not always… admirable; I’m also undisciplined enough to stay the course. At long last, I joined the gaming PC world. Then I started getting curious about mods. Then I started dabbling in writing some code.

Next thing I know, I’m reading articles and watching tutorials on artwork, coding, and building your own game from the ground up. And let me tell you… they’re lying to you. “I made this game with AI in 1 hour.” Don’t click it. Don’t give that guy the views, he doesn’t deserve them.

Let’s go ahead and clear something up. Influencers, content-creators – they have one purpose: make content, get views. Don’t get me wrong, there are some good videos and YouTubers out there, or whatever other platform they’re using – tons of helpful and informative people. And vibe-coding, making your own games or programs or websites with AI, is absolutely changing things. It doesn’t eliminate the need for AAA studios, experienced developers, or a room full of people with so much brain power that it smells like burnt batteries; but it does change things. It makes certain possibilities more accessible to the average Joe.

That also comes with some caveats. AI is subject to criticism, backlash and maybe even hate mail. There are anti-AI policies in some of the publication world; games made with AI are exempted from most game awards. Some people won’t even click a game if it even mentions it. And that’s fine.

You absolutely can make a game in less than an hour. Maybe even in 5-10 minutes. In fact, you don’t even need AI. Copy some code from generic sources, put it all together and you have an 8-bit Galaxia knock-off. I asked my AI to make one for one simple experiment: How long does it actually need? The answer – six and a half minutes, roughly. Fully working game it affectionately called “Comet Storm.” I shamelessly played it for about an hour because I was bored. Don’t tell anybody.

Let’s pivot to the real question, though. Can you make the game you have in your head? The answer is probably yes, depending on just how ambitious you’re feeling. The timeline and your expectations might need some adjusting, though. You can generate art, you can use free tools and engines like Blender and Unreal, or go the low poly route, or even make a simple dungeon game with three.js and not need a single bit of external artwork – let the engine renderer do all of the heavy lifting. And if you’re like me, you might start from that end. And you’d be completely wrong.

I had a concept, a premise, a story if you will. I had characters in my head, too. What I didn’t have was an understanding of how truly complex game-making can be. The timing, the impact, the sequences, the connectiveness of all parts just to make it “feel good” to play. A game could run on a perfectly smooth engine, render incredible graphics and artwork at outstanding FPS, and just the neatest story or concept you’ve heard your entire life – and none of that would stop it from utterly failing if you got the other mechanics wrong.

So, here we are. Learn, stack, create. That’s the mission. Hopefully, I save you from going down some of the wrong avenues and steer you toward some good and meaningful content (not those guys promising you they made the most incredible game in just one day or weekend).

Some of this site is about gaming. Well, probably most of it; but I also have other projects. For example, web apps and programs I make for work purposes. In that spirit, you might see some other projects and ‘instructables’ come to life here that aren’t game-related. And if that’s your jam, great! Hence, Stackality became the home for all of it.

TLDR; I’m Levi. I make stuff and I like to teach others or at least save them time. Dig in!