Tom Francis
@pentadact.com
Designer/writer/coder on Gunpoint, Heat Signature, and Tactical Breach Wizards. More on those and other things I write or do or be: https://www.pentadact.com/
Dug into the buildcraft of Slice & Dice - what works about it and what's weird:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Eh... .
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Eh... .
Buildcraft in Slice & Dice
YouTube video by Tom Francis
www.youtube.com
November 14, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Dug into the buildcraft of Slice & Dice - what works about it and what's weird:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Eh... .
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Eh... .
Turning up Rain Sounds For Sleep 10 Hours so I can hear it over the rain outside.
November 10, 2025 at 3:58 AM
Turning up Rain Sounds For Sleep 10 Hours so I can hear it over the rain outside.
For about another 21 hours all our games are suspiciously cheap:
🕵️ Gunpoint is 80% off! store.steampowered.com/app/206190/G...
🚀 Heat Signature is 80% off! store.steampowered.com/app/268130/H...
🧙♂️ Tactical Breach Wizards is 40% off! store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/...
🕵️ Gunpoint is 80% off! store.steampowered.com/app/206190/G...
🚀 Heat Signature is 80% off! store.steampowered.com/app/268130/H...
🧙♂️ Tactical Breach Wizards is 40% off! store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/...
Save 40% on Tactical Breach Wizards on Steam
In Tactical Breach Wizards, you lead a team of renegade wizards in kevlar through turn-based battles to unravel a modern conspiracy plot. Combine their unique spells in clever ways, or rewind time to ...
store.steampowered.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:59 PM
For about another 21 hours all our games are suspiciously cheap:
🕵️ Gunpoint is 80% off! store.steampowered.com/app/206190/G...
🚀 Heat Signature is 80% off! store.steampowered.com/app/268130/H...
🧙♂️ Tactical Breach Wizards is 40% off! store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/...
🕵️ Gunpoint is 80% off! store.steampowered.com/app/206190/G...
🚀 Heat Signature is 80% off! store.steampowered.com/app/268130/H...
🧙♂️ Tactical Breach Wizards is 40% off! store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/...
Reposted by Tom Francis
It’s time for this starship to take flight - Generation Exile has launched in Steam Early Access and is available right now!
store.steampowered.com/app/2963240/...
store.steampowered.com/app/2963240/...
November 4, 2025 at 6:30 PM
It’s time for this starship to take flight - Generation Exile has launched in Steam Early Access and is available right now!
store.steampowered.com/app/2963240/...
store.steampowered.com/app/2963240/...
Reposted by Tom Francis
Tactical Breach Wizards is 40% off in today's Daily Deal! The cheapest the wizards have ever allowed us to price them.
To celebrate, we've added a community missions pack, featuring some great ones players have made since launch.
store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/... .
To celebrate, we've added a community missions pack, featuring some great ones players have made since launch.
store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/... .
Save 40% on Tactical Breach Wizards on Steam
In Tactical Breach Wizards, you lead a team of renegade wizards in kevlar through turn-based battles to unravel a modern conspiracy plot. Combine their unique spells in clever ways, or rewind time to ...
store.steampowered.com
November 2, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Tactical Breach Wizards is 40% off in today's Daily Deal! The cheapest the wizards have ever allowed us to price them.
To celebrate, we've added a community missions pack, featuring some great ones players have made since launch.
store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/... .
To celebrate, we've added a community missions pack, featuring some great ones players have made since launch.
store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/... .
Reposted by Tom Francis
I almost can't believe this but the game we've been working on for a, uh, frightening long time now is launching into Steam Early Access NEXT WEEK!
November 4th, 9am PT
Wishlistin' plz and thank: store.steampowered.com/app/2963240/...
November 4th, 9am PT
Wishlistin' plz and thank: store.steampowered.com/app/2963240/...
Generation Exile on Steam
You are aboard humanity’s first and final generation ship, a last-chance expedition now teetering on the rim of collapse. One step at a time you must rebuild society and the ship’s fragile ecosystems ...
store.steampowered.com
October 31, 2025 at 7:36 PM
I almost can't believe this but the game we've been working on for a, uh, frightening long time now is launching into Steam Early Access NEXT WEEK!
November 4th, 9am PT
Wishlistin' plz and thank: store.steampowered.com/app/2963240/...
November 4th, 9am PT
Wishlistin' plz and thank: store.steampowered.com/app/2963240/...
This is great to read. Letting players turn off permadeath in Heat Signature was sacrilege, design-wise, but trivial effort-wise - so we did it.
Hearing how much it let someone truly click with the game really shows the value of letting people engage with your stuff on their own terms.
Hearing how much it let someone truly click with the game really shows the value of letting people engage with your stuff on their own terms.
With huge apologies to @pentadact.com , I have written about #heatsignature , the best space heist stealth murder gadget hacking tactical puzzle game ever made:
open.substack.com/pub/affectio...
open.substack.com/pub/affectio...
Heat Signature: The Definitive Review
Always. Be. Crashbeaming. Glitchtrapping. Shotgunning. Wrenching. Subverting (extreme range, self-charging)
open.substack.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:38 PM
This is great to read. Letting players turn off permadeath in Heat Signature was sacrilege, design-wise, but trivial effort-wise - so we did it.
Hearing how much it let someone truly click with the game really shows the value of letting people engage with your stuff on their own terms.
Hearing how much it let someone truly click with the game really shows the value of letting people engage with your stuff on their own terms.
Aw, very kind! 🙏
And yeah, undo is so useful at dev time too. Check if the crazy thing you just saw was a bug or just a counter-intuitive rules interaction - and either way, study it in captivity.
And yeah, undo is so useful at dev time too. Check if the crazy thing you just saw was a bug or just a counter-intuitive rules interaction - and either way, study it in captivity.
Us channeling @pentadact.com - the design GOAT in respecting players’ time, including the hypothetical time / pre-commit experimentation phase.
✨⌛️🔄⌛️✨
For us, a turn’s end is the commit action. I hope we’ll see many other games embrace undo by degrees, gradually making save-crawling less appealing.
✨⌛️🔄⌛️✨
For us, a turn’s end is the commit action. I hope we’ll see many other games embrace undo by degrees, gradually making save-crawling less appealing.
When we were refining the card battle interactions for The Killing Stone, we needed an undo button so we could test out various card combos. We loved the results so much, we made it a feature of the game. Here's how to optimize Undo in battle, and put those demons in their place. #indiegames
October 21, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Aw, very kind! 🙏
And yeah, undo is so useful at dev time too. Check if the crazy thing you just saw was a bug or just a counter-intuitive rules interaction - and either way, study it in captivity.
And yeah, undo is so useful at dev time too. Check if the crazy thing you just saw was a bug or just a counter-intuitive rules interaction - and either way, study it in captivity.
Just an absolute cat pretzel. At my *funeral* I won't be this relaxed.
October 16, 2025 at 3:33 AM
Just an absolute cat pretzel. At my *funeral* I won't be this relaxed.
Reposted by Tom Francis
Looks like I'm looking for work. If anyone out there happens to have a lead or principal level design gig in Austin or remote, I'm all ears.
October 7, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Looks like I'm looking for work. If anyone out there happens to have a lead or principal level design gig in Austin or remote, I'm all ears.
"OK, we've got nothing to brag about on quality or price, so what's our selling point?"
...
...
"Well, if you're standing right outside..."
...
...
"Well, if you're standing right outside..."
October 2, 2025 at 4:22 AM
"OK, we've got nothing to brag about on quality or price, so what's our selling point?"
...
...
"Well, if you're standing right outside..."
...
...
"Well, if you're standing right outside..."
In this Columbo ep, he hassles a chess champ enough for the guy to lose one of his 10 simultaneous games. Fair enough, happens to the best of us when we done a bad murder.
On closer inspection though, he lost in 2 moves, the literal worst moves possible in chess, and a comedy own-goal.
On closer inspection though, he lost in 2 moves, the literal worst moves possible in chess, and a comedy own-goal.
September 28, 2025 at 3:12 PM
In this Columbo ep, he hassles a chess champ enough for the guy to lose one of his 10 simultaneous games. Fair enough, happens to the best of us when we done a bad murder.
On closer inspection though, he lost in 2 moves, the literal worst moves possible in chess, and a comedy own-goal.
On closer inspection though, he lost in 2 moves, the literal worst moves possible in chess, and a comedy own-goal.
Reposted by Tom Francis
Ever wake up and dice a whole bird's eye chilli into your hot chocolate?
If not, I may have discovered why not.
If not, I may have discovered why not.
September 22, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Ever wake up and dice a whole bird's eye chilli into your hot chocolate?
If not, I may have discovered why not.
If not, I may have discovered why not.
Don't give me the One Ring cos if either of my cats reaches out to me with a paw, all logic leaves my brain and I give them whatever I'm holding.
Similar guidance applies to firearms.
Similar guidance applies to firearms.
September 20, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Don't give me the One Ring cos if either of my cats reaches out to me with a paw, all logic leaves my brain and I give them whatever I'm holding.
Similar guidance applies to firearms.
Similar guidance applies to firearms.
Reposted by Tom Francis
I started my new job last month: I'm now studio manager/producer at Suspicious Developments, the team responsible for Tactical Breach Wizards, Heat Signature and Gunpoint!
September 16, 2025 at 11:24 AM
I started my new job last month: I'm now studio manager/producer at Suspicious Developments, the team responsible for Tactical Breach Wizards, Heat Signature and Gunpoint!
Increasingly think a lot of the things that didn't kill me made me weaker.
September 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Increasingly think a lot of the things that didn't kill me made me weaker.
Reposted by Tom Francis
Actually, Frankenstein is a doctor success at the Venice film festival
August 31, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Actually, Frankenstein is a doctor success at the Venice film festival
Finally starting to click with The Bazaar. There was really no stopping this build once I screwed a Silencer onto my Dog.
August 31, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Finally starting to click with The Bazaar. There was really no stopping this build once I screwed a Silencer onto my Dog.
The scamps both turned 2 today. They have no concept of why they got their favourite stinky fish treats or were allowed to play with The Forbidden Strawberry (a beloved choking hazard I have to watch them closely with) - but they had a lovely time.
August 30, 2025 at 4:10 AM
The scamps both turned 2 today. They have no concept of why they got their favourite stinky fish treats or were allowed to play with The Forbidden Strawberry (a beloved choking hazard I have to watch them closely with) - but they had a lovely time.
Reposted by Tom Francis
Folks on the mailing list will also be getting a little something soon, so if you're not signed up yet, do so here: www.suspiciousdevelopments.com/mail/ .
The Suspicious Developments Mailing List
www.suspiciousdevelopments.com
August 22, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Folks on the mailing list will also be getting a little something soon, so if you're not signed up yet, do so here: www.suspiciousdevelopments.com/mail/ .
Reposted by Tom Francis
Tactical Breach Wizards is a year old today! To celebrate, we're rewinding the whole last year to see if it can be done better or if it's just a bullshit level.
In the meantime, we're 25% off til Monday! store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/... .
In the meantime, we're 25% off til Monday! store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/... .
Save 25% on Tactical Breach Wizards on Steam
In Tactical Breach Wizards, you lead a team of renegade wizards in kevlar through turn-based battles to unravel a modern conspiracy plot. Combine their unique spells in clever ways, or rewind time to ...
store.steampowered.com
August 22, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Tactical Breach Wizards is a year old today! To celebrate, we're rewinding the whole last year to see if it can be done better or if it's just a bullshit level.
In the meantime, we're 25% off til Monday! store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/... .
In the meantime, we're 25% off til Monday! store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/... .
Reposted by Tom Francis
The box opens! Our next game is The Killing Stone, and you won't have to wait overly long on this one...
On that note, wishlists welcome as always, friends.
store.steampowered.com/app/2781470/...
On that note, wishlists welcome as always, friends.
store.steampowered.com/app/2781470/...
The Killing Stone on Steam
Beat the Devil at his own game. The Killing Stone is a deckbuilding card battler wrapped in a 17th century folk horror narrative. Clean the sins of a cursed family by bargaining against a series of de...
store.steampowered.com
August 20, 2025 at 8:16 PM
The box opens! Our next game is The Killing Stone, and you won't have to wait overly long on this one...
On that note, wishlists welcome as always, friends.
store.steampowered.com/app/2781470/...
On that note, wishlists welcome as always, friends.
store.steampowered.com/app/2781470/...
A seagull will repeat itself if you ask nicely.
August 16, 2025 at 6:15 PM
A seagull will repeat itself if you ask nicely.
Hi, I'm at WorldCon! The only thing I'm doing is a low key hangout type thing with only 6 spots - if you wanna join for that, register for it in the next hour!
You can register at room 326 or here: seattlein2025.org/program-and-...
You can register at room 326 or here: seattlein2025.org/program-and-...
August 15, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Hi, I'm at WorldCon! The only thing I'm doing is a low key hangout type thing with only 6 spots - if you wanna join for that, register for it in the next hour!
You can register at room 326 or here: seattlein2025.org/program-and-...
You can register at room 326 or here: seattlein2025.org/program-and-...