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coastwide.systems
James | CWS 🇨🇦
@coastwide.systems
1.7K followers 2.5K following 770 posts
Game development studio building games for Linux (and other OS's too) using the bevy engine and Rust language.

#linux #rustlang #bevy #bevyengine

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev

https://coastwidesystems.com/

https://discord.gg/Rg8MBJAvu4
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coastwide.systems
James | CWS 🇨🇦 @coastwide.systems · Feb 7
The Heat Retreat Steam store page is finally live and ready for wishlisting! Tell your friends, tell your dog, tell your cat, tell everyone! 🎉

store.steampowered.com/app/3375550/...
Heat Retreat on Steam
Your home town is forced to evacuate: assemble your party, choose a vehicle and grab supplies before hitting the road in search of refuge. Manage your resources and barter, scavenge, hunt or steal alo...
store.steampowered.com
coastwide.systems
Been working a lot on under-the-hood stuff lately (gamepads fully work now!), but started on improving the party supply management view for Heat Retreat! Very early stage work in progress still but can show the side by side changes so far for #screenshotsaturday

#indiegamedev #bevy #pixelart
A screenshot showing the updated, very work in progress party supply management view. Pictured is a tab style navigation bar to the left listing "Homestead", "Party", "Vehicle", Supplies" and "Leave". In the main view is the player wallet at the top showing $800, the blue hatchback vehicle with its trunk open and a full load of supplies: antibiotics, first aid, fresh (perishable) food, canned food, rifle/shotgun/pistol ammunition, water, duct tape (repair material), wiper blades, fuel and tires. To the right of the vehicle is some background art including an orange tent and camp fire. Not yet implemented are the remaining "upgrade" class of items, which will occupy the empty space. A screenshot showing the old simply text based party supply management view. Pictured is a tab style navigation bar to the left listing "Roadside", "Party", "Vehicle", Supplies" and "Leave". In the main view is the player wallet at the bottom of the list showing $800 and a listing of supplies: antibiotics, first aid, fresh (perishable) food, canned food, rifle/shotgun/pistol ammunition, water, duct tape (repair material), wiper blades, fuel and tires. To the right is a text pane showing "upgrade" class of items, which are not yet implemented in the new view but include "Rifle" and "Small Backpack" in the listing. At the top is a text heading "Caravan Supplies" with a dev flag indicating localization text has not been found & fall back is in use.
December 20, 2025 at 7:02 PM
coastwide.systems
Ended up going CachyOS in the end, partly due to the Fedora installer constantly crashing out 🙄

Re-ran my un-scientific benchmark under the same test conditions but running the correct, optimized, up to date kernel & I still get worse #rustlang build times for #bevy than I did with Fedora
coastwide.systems James | CWS 🇨🇦 @coastwide.systems · 12d
As the search for my next #linux distro to try out continues, I started a *very* un-scientific test using liveUSB's compiling #rustlang #bevy and was surprised to find that Fedora outperformed CachyOS (average 3m 20s vs 3m 50s)

Really want to try something new (to me) but Fedora keeps beckoning 😆
coastwide.systems James | CWS 🇨🇦 @coastwide.systems · 13d
It's been slow going backing up everything I need off the laptop (it's been a few years since its last wipe), plus busy with Christmas-y stuff. But almost ready...if I can make up my mind on the next #linux distro for #rustlang #bevy #gamedev
December 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
coastwide.systems
As the search for my next #linux distro to try out continues, I started a *very* un-scientific test using liveUSB's compiling #rustlang #bevy and was surprised to find that Fedora outperformed CachyOS (average 3m 20s vs 3m 50s)

Really want to try something new (to me) but Fedora keeps beckoning 😆
coastwide.systems James | CWS 🇨🇦 @coastwide.systems · 13d
It's been slow going backing up everything I need off the laptop (it's been a few years since its last wipe), plus busy with Christmas-y stuff. But almost ready...if I can make up my mind on the next #linux distro for #rustlang #bevy #gamedev
coastwide.systems James | CWS 🇨🇦 @coastwide.systems · 20d
Starting to get that itch - I think it may be time for a #linux distro hop! Fedora has been good, but looking to try something different. Which to try next though... decisions decisions 🤔

Ubuntu is dead to me & been burned by Manjaro a few times... been hearing good stuff about CachyOS
December 17, 2025 at 5:03 PM
coastwide.systems
Don't have any fun pictures/videos to show for my latest progress on Heat Retreat since it's a lot of under the hood stuff, but I've finally got gamepads working (all of them)! And fixed up more of the settings menu items (localization switching, changing colours etc) 🎉

#indiedev #gamedev #bevy
December 17, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by James | CWS 🇨🇦
zed.dev
Dev containers are now in Zed Preview 🎉

Open a project with a `devcontainer.json` and Zed will offer to spin it up. This lands in Stable on 1/7/26. It's a V1, with more coming in 2026 🎆

Try it today: zed.dev/releases/pre...
Preview Releases — Zed
Download the latest releases of Zed, or view the changelog.
zed.dev
December 17, 2025 at 4:23 PM
coastwide.systems
It's been slow going backing up everything I need off the laptop (it's been a few years since its last wipe), plus busy with Christmas-y stuff. But almost ready...if I can make up my mind on the next #linux distro for #rustlang #bevy #gamedev
coastwide.systems James | CWS 🇨🇦 @coastwide.systems · 20d
Starting to get that itch - I think it may be time for a #linux distro hop! Fedora has been good, but looking to try something different. Which to try next though... decisions decisions 🤔

Ubuntu is dead to me & been burned by Manjaro a few times... been hearing good stuff about CachyOS
December 16, 2025 at 5:49 PM
coastwide.systems
New #rustlang release & my automated updates for building Rust & #bevy apps using Steam's Linux SDK are picking up on them before me!

Seeing those emails notifying me of new images being pushed to quay.io/repository/c... gives me those warm & fuzzy feelings 😆
December 11, 2025 at 10:11 PM
coastwide.systems
Thanks to my amazing wife I have a new phone that I immediately switched over to GrapheneOS, and am now 99% de-Googled 🎉

Appreciate all the work that goes into the OS @grapheneos.org - aiming to one day be a contributor when my financial situation is a bit more stable 😅
A photo of a brand new Pixel 9a booting GrapheneOS for the first time, showing the GrapheneOS logo and title against a black background for the boot splash screen.
December 11, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by James | CWS 🇨🇦
aseprite.org
New Aseprite v1.3.16 & v1.3.17-beta1 available right now! // Featuring @eremapixel.bsky.social 🎨
December 11, 2025 at 6:32 PM
coastwide.systems
New Aseprite release yesterday (v1.3.16), so I've tested & updated my OCI builder for anyone wanting to simplify compiling it for #linux #pixelart (would've had it done sooner but was on solo dad duty all day - need to set up some automation for this too)

github.com/coast-wide-s...
GitHub - coast-wide-systems/aseprite-podman: Helper to compile Aseprite for Linux using rootless podman
Helper to compile Aseprite for Linux using rootless podman - coast-wide-systems/aseprite-podman
github.com
December 11, 2025 at 6:33 PM
coastwide.systems
Local bookstores are also happy to order in a specific book if it's not on the shelf, and I personally prefer hearing about good books from a human over a Bezos-enrichening algorithm.

Also saves you shipping/markup if you don't live in a major city & get hit with the "rural" destination fees
barnabyedwards.bsky.social Barnaby Edwards @barnabyedwards.bsky.social · 19d
Amazon is making money off AI copies of books - and putting the onus on authors to prove they’ve been plagiarised.

Honestly, just stop buying books from Amazon. Get them from an actual bookshop or order them from a reputable book supplier like bookshop.org

www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
Amazon Is the World's Biggest Online Book Marketplace. It's Filled With AI Knockoffs
Authors say Amazon's knockoff book problem is leaving them frustrated — and making the internet worse in the process.
www.rollingstone.com
December 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM
coastwide.systems
Starting to get that itch - I think it may be time for a #linux distro hop! Fedora has been good, but looking to try something different. Which to try next though... decisions decisions 🤔

Ubuntu is dead to me & been burned by Manjaro a few times... been hearing good stuff about CachyOS
December 9, 2025 at 6:52 PM
coastwide.systems
Just discovered a feature in duckduckgo to block sites from search results!

I am so fed up with #AIslop articles polluting search results that I'm now outright blocking entire domain names when I see this crap. "Share feedback" also has an option specifically to report AI generated search results
A screenshot of a duckduckgo search result snippet showing the three dot menu with the new option to block a particular site from search results: "Block this site from all results [NEW]"
December 8, 2025 at 9:19 PM
coastwide.systems
Taking a slight departure from posting about gamedev stuff to share some #mushroom #fungi pictures from recent autumn adventures; the stuff that I get my ideas & art direction inspiration from when working on Heat Retreat
December 6, 2025 at 8:45 PM
coastwide.systems
Just wrapped up testing of my OCI builder for #rustlang #bevy on the new #Steam #linux SDK v4 and it's working great for Heat Retreat. For anyone wanting to use it it's available and if there's a particular dependency needed feel free to open a PR or issue on GitHub (links in replies)

#indiegamedev
December 4, 2025 at 5:51 PM
coastwide.systems
Forgot to post this before but borrwed a #SteamDeck for some testing recently. Found lots of bugs (mostly gamepad/input stuff that I'm actively working on), but Heat Retreat was looking pretty good on handheld (runtime v3 here)

#gamedev #indiedev #gaming #LinuxGaming #Steam #SteamOS #bevy #rustlang
A poorly lit photo showing the Heat Retreat travel state running natively on a SteamDeck. In the scene is the red 50's era pickup truck and its stylized the dashboard UI showing fuel, outside temperature, date/time, speed, distance traveled (via the odometer), distance to next location and a simple high/med/low food representation using an ubiquitous yellow milk crate. The travel scenery depicts the truck driving down a small side road through a deciduous forest, with low distant mountains in the background and a sunny day with scattered clouds.
December 3, 2025 at 5:11 PM
coastwide.systems
My low tech #gamedev #indiedev bug tracker

I can see it at a glance, it's there guilting me all the time, quick to add new items/rearrange topics and it's satisfying crossing stuff off 😆
A photo of the bottom of my monitor with three orange post-it notes containing the topics "Travel", "Shopping" & "Settings". Each contains barely legible bullet point notes of bugs or pending features under each heading, with completed items roughly crossed out.
December 2, 2025 at 5:16 PM
coastwide.systems
Gamepad support is maddening - stripped out my old code for it, re-did it in the most basic way possible... and it's working...but...ended up breaking a ton of other stuff in nonsensical ways 🤦 #gamedev #indiedev
December 2, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by James | CWS 🇨🇦
deathbulge.bsky.social
2-panel comic about two guys lamenting about modern games whilst refusing to acknowledge indie games
December 1, 2025 at 6:55 PM
coastwide.systems
Before getting back to work on proper gamepad support for Heat Retreat, took a moment to update my builder image to use the new Steam v4 SDK for #linux that I use to build #bevy #rustlang

Not live on my quay.io repository yet pending more testing but code's up on GitHub: github.com/coast-wide-s...
November 27, 2025 at 10:40 PM
coastwide.systems
Today marks 1 month exactly but Heat Retreat's shopping rework is complete* 🎉

Couple things I'll circle back to (eg, station wagon art I'm not super happy with) but it's all functional! Time to get back on that gamepad support....

#gamedev #indiedev #gaming #bevy #linux #pixelart
Heat Retreat's newly reworked shopping UI, showing the player's vehicle (a red retro style pickup truck here) on the left with sellable commodities arrayed (mostly) sensibly in/around the vehicle and a simple shop with a goods to buy displayed. Items all have a white outline to help show what can be interacted with, and focused items have a (configurable) coloured outline (red shown here). The shopkeeper uses a speech bubble to communicate to the player the item type & price per unit ("I'd consider $4/L for water" shown here). In the upper left region is the player's wallet ($658.00), the upper right corner has the pause/menu UI button shown as an ubiquitous double vertical bar pause icon, and the lower right has the back/leave UI button, shown as an arrow pointing right. Not shown here is the trade dialog box, where the player can see more detailed information about the commodity in focus & select how much to buy or sell. Heat Retreat's newly reworked shopping UI, showing the player's vehicle (a brown wood panelled retro station wagon here) on the left with sellable commodities arrayed (mostly) sensibly in/around the vehicle and a simple shop with a goods to buy displayed. Items all have a white outline to help show what can be interacted with, and focused items have a (configurable) coloured outline (none in focus here). The shopkeeper uses a speech bubble to communicate to the player the item type & price per unit, not shown in this screenshot since no item is currently in focus. In the upper left region is the player's wallet ($585.00), the upper right corner has the pause/menu UI button shown as an ubiquitous double vertical bar pause icon, and the lower right has the back/leave UI button, shown as an arrow pointing right. Not shown here is the trade dialog box, where the player can see more detailed information about the commodity in focus & select how much to buy or sell. Heat Retreat's newly reworked shopping UI, showing the player's vehicle (the light blue 90's era hatch back/compact show here) on the left with sellable commodities arrayed (mostly) sensibly in/around the vehicle and a simple shop with a goods to buy displayed. Items all have a white outline to help show what can be interacted with, and focused items have a (configurable) coloured outline (none in focus here). The shopkeeper uses a speech bubble to communicate to the player the item type & price per unit, not shown in this screenshot since no item is currently in focus. In the upper left region is the player's wallet ($620.00), the upper right corner has the pause/menu UI button shown as an ubiquitous double vertical bar pause icon, and the lower right has the back/leave UI button, shown as an arrow pointing right. Not shown here is the trade dialog box, where the player can see more detailed information about the commodity in focus & select how much to buy or sell.
November 27, 2025 at 9:40 PM
Reposted by James | CWS 🇨🇦
kde.org
Plasma is going all Wayland

After nearly three decades of KDE desktop environments running on X11, the future KDE Plasma 6.8 release (due early 2027) will be Wayland-exclusive.

Read the FAQ below to find out what this means for you and the future of KDE:

blogs.kde.org/2025/11/26/g...
The Wayland (a yellow circle with a W in the center) rises over green pastures where Konqi frolics happily.
November 26, 2025 at 5:53 PM
coastwide.systems
A lot of code work since the last update, but got a lot of the edge cases covered now. Finished up replacing the placeholder textures too, and worked at fixing up the fuel & water assets (tried a different approach with the water, still not 100% happy with it)

#indiegamedev #pixelart #bevy
A screenshot of the re-worked Heat Retreat shopping interface, with retro red pickup truck vehicle option shown on the left and shop consisting of a dark wood table, drab shopkeeper in a blue cap and brick wall in the background with a clothesline. In the truck bed are the player's sellable goods, showing water, fuel, first aid supplies, food (fresh and canned), and a variety of ammunition. For sale in the shop are tires, fuel, water, canned & fresh food, rifle/shotgun/pistol ammunition, and on the ground are duct tape and wiper blades (for vehicle repairs). In focus with a red highlight is the water sellable, with the shopkeeper speech bubble stating "The best I'll do is $4/L for water."
November 20, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Reposted by James | CWS 🇨🇦
vangameconnect.ca
The GAMES FROM VANCOUVER 🍁 Steam sale goes live Nov 21-30 with over 50 discounted games!

We've partnered with @bbigames.bsky.social to present a digital showcase of talent from Greater Vancouver.

Mark your calendar to snag a great deal and discover hits you might not have known were made here!
Games from Vancouver Steam sale is happening on November 21st - 30th. The background shows an illustration of Vancouver, albeit, with a lot more strange happenings. On the left in the water, a giant mech with four legs towers over the mountains. An ominous UFO ship is hovering above Downtown Vancouver. And, just in the sea, there is a giant octopus. This is putting some needed fun in Vancouver.
November 6, 2025 at 7:10 PM
coastwide.systems
What a day for internet services, first Cloudflare, now GitHub 😆

But I'm going to capitalize on the situation to remind everyone: Heat Retreat (and all games I plan to make) are DRM free & don't require cloud connections. You buy it, you play it, online or offline.

And no gen AI either 🎉
November 18, 2025 at 10:23 PM