Shining Rock Software
shiningrocksoftware.com · Company blog · on HN since 2013
The solo developer of the village-building game Banished writes about game development, engine work, graphics drivers and porting.
What HN saysCommenters hold up Banished as a lasting hit built by one person with his own engine, and point to the blog's technical detail.
15HN people shared it
9linked it in comments
8stories submitted
541story points
5 years agolast shared
2013people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Game6 people · first shared 2014
- 2Thoughts on (porting Banished to) Linux2 people · 5 points · first shared 2016 · 1 comments on HN
- 3Homepage2 people · first shared 2013
- 4Windows game developer about porting to and using OS X1 people · 292 points · first shared 2015 · 198 comments on HN
- 5Graphics Drivers1 people · 237 points · first shared 2015 · 20 comments on HN
- 6Debugging a hardware bug in a game1 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 7What is Banished?1 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 8Save and Load1 people · 2 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 9Development Toys1 people · 1 points · first shared 2021 · discussion on HN
- 102015 03 14 porting opengl and shaders1 people · first shared 2015
- 112014 08 26 mod kit beta1 people · first shared 2014
What HN people wrote when they linked it
standardUser · 2022-02-28
Banished
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 It's sold at least 2 million copies (based on outdated info I could find) and is frequently referenced in gaming media with the reverence of a classic.
andyjohnson0 · 2016-01-18
This 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/
dagw · 2015-08-24
The game Banished (http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/) is another modern example of an amazing piece of software turned out by a single programmer.
poopchute · 2015-03-05
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
ejolto · 2015-11-11
Not 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-and-shade…
minikites · 2015-03-03
It's not set in ancient times, but Banished is pretty good: http://www.shiningrocksoftware.com/game/
panhandlr · 2014-11-10
If 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.
lgieron · 2014-06-15
That'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.)
joshstrange · 2014-04-21
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://www.ftlgame.com/
[5] http://store.steampowered.com/app/221380/
[6] http://www.teamfortress.com/
[7] http://store.steampowered.com/app/240/
[8] https://minecraft.net/
[9] https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/
[10] http://www.spacechemthegame.com/
EDIT: Added some more