Top all-time · #4843
Shining Rock Software
Company blog · shiningrocksoftware.comgamesprogramming
Shining Rock Software is the company blog at shiningrocksoftware.com, writing about games and programming. Since 2013, 15 different Hacker News readers have linked it 19 times, most often “Thoughts on (porting Banished to) Linux”. The last post was in 2022, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (10) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Mostly linked as the homepage for Banished, a game built by one developer. Its development blog is cited for OpenGL porting and for insights into building a complex product alone.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 10 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- /game/5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2014-04-21
- Thoughts on (porting Banished to) Linux2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-04-09
What Hacker News says?
I quite like sim building games. My most recent favourite is Banished http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/ Not nearly as complex as sim city but still very enjoyable
Comment linking /game/
on “EA Shuts Down ‘SimCity’ and ‘The Sims’ Developer Maxis”Submitted Windows game developer about porting to and using OS X as a story · 292 points
HN discussionThat's what's possible as a one man project: http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/ AFAIK he did all the game design, coding and assets (models, textures, sounds etc.)
Comment linking /game/
on “Zelda: The Wind Waker – Tech and Texture Analysis”Submitted Graphics Drivers as a story · 237 points
HN discussionIt's not set in ancient times, but Banished is pretty good: http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/
Comment linking /game/
on “Unity 5 released with upgrades, full-featured free version”Submitted Thoughts on (porting Banished to) Linux as a story · 3 points
HN discussionNot really. One of the major parts of the OSX port is opengl support which he has been working on since at least March. http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/2015-03-14-porting-opengl...
Comment linking /2015-03-14-porting-opengl-and-shaders/
on “Windows game developer about porting to and using OS X”Submitted Save and Load as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe game Banished ( http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/ ) is another modern example of an amazing piece of software turned out by a single programmer.
Comment linking /game/
on “A Salute to Solo Programmers”Submitted Thoughts on Linux as a story · 2 points
HN discussionBanished https://shiningrocksoftware.com/ One person made an outstanding village-building game that has not only stood the test of time (released 8 years ago) but also spawned dozens of imitators and a robust modding community. It's sold at least 2 million copies (based on outdated info I could find) and is frequently referenced in gaming media with the reverence of a classic.
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Single-person creations that have stood the test of time?”Submitted Debugging a hardware bug in a game as a story · 2 points
HN discussionYou might be interested in Shining Rock Software's site [1]. Its a single developer creating a world-building game called Banished, and he has some good insights into the problems of building a complex product on his own. [1] http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/
Comment linking /
on “How I made an Android game from scratch in 23 days”Submitted What is Banished? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIf anyone is interested in working on a "walled city" mod to the game "Banished" http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/2014-08-26-mod-kit-beta/ please contact me.
Comment linking /2014-08-26-mod-kit-beta/
on “Detailed Cross-section of the Kowloon Walled City”Submitted Development Toys as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThis reminded me of Banished [1], a game developed by a single developer who also wrote his own engine (though in C++). His development blog [2] goes into quite a lot of technical detail. [1] http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/ [2] http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/
Comment linking /
on “C or C++ for my game engine?”Banished [0], Starcraft [1], Starcraft 2 [2], SPAZ [3], FTL [4], AoE HD [5], TF2 [6], CS:Source [7], Minecraft [8], Kerbal Space Program [9], SpaceChem [10]. I'm sure there are more but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. [0] http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/ [1] http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/sc/ [2] http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/ [3] http://minmax-games.com/SpacePiratesAndZombies/ [4] http:/…
Comment linking /game/
on “Ask HN: What games do programmers play?”
