Thunder Hop Games Blog
Various experiences and technical discoveries from the game development journey. This blog is new, articles will appear periodically.
Posts
Welcome to the Development Blog for Defenders of Hexalis

In this first blog post, I introduce the development blog and what you can expect from it, including technical deep dives, feature spotlights, and development stories from my journey creating Defenders of Hexalis.
Read MoreFirst Look at Defenders of Hexalis: A Glimpse into the Game's World

Today, I'm excited to share the first-ever screenshots of Defenders of Hexalis, the 3D hexagonal tower defense game I've been working on. Keep in mind, this is still a work in progress, but I wanted to give you a peek at how the world is shaping up.
Read MoreHow I (Over) Doubled My Game Engine's Performance

In today's post, I want to dive into one of the most satisfying aspects of game development: squeezing performance gains out of your engine through clever (and sometimes obsessive) optimization. Recently, I released a YouTube video “How I (Over) Doubled My Game Engine's Performance by Reducing Heap Allocations.”
Read MoreTone Mapping

One of the recent graphical upgrades I tackled was implementing proper tone mapping into the rendering pipeline. This might sound like a subtle change, but the visual difference it makes is substantial. It transforms bright and flat visuals into something that feels rich, balanced, and more cinematic.
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