u/mat_game_dev

Hey everyone! As a solo dev and Deck lover, I wanted to share how I optimized my chaotic retro runner, Horse Runner DX, for our favorite handheld. It actually just hit a 96% "Very Positive" rating on Steam!

What is Horse Runner DX?
It's a fast-paced, chaotic arcade runner heavily inspired by classics like Robot Unicorn Attack, Dino Run, and Canabalt. You build a growing herd of horses or unicorns, dash through procedural pixel-art landscapes, and try to survive the escalating speed to beat challenges and climb the global leaderboard. It's built for quick, addictive pick-up-and-play sessions.

Optimized for the Deck:

• 3W TDP: I've been testing and tweaking this game on my personal LCD Deck since day one. I used to think 4W was the absolute minimum for stable 60 FPS, but after some more low-level optimization, it now runs at a rock-solid 60 FPS at just 3W TDP and the GPU set to 200 MHz (with default game settings).
• OLED Support: The game now features native 90Hz support to take full advantage of the OLED's beautiful and responsive screen.
• Pixel-Perfect 800p: Built from scratch on a custom framework to ensure the pixel art scales flawlessly to the Deck's native resolution without any blurry interpolation or black bars.
• Native Linux: No Proton required. It runs natively on SteamOS/Linux.
• Docked Mode: If you hook it up to a TV or monitor, it fully supports high resolutions.

The game recently got another big update based on player feedback to completely polish the camera tracking and overall gameplay to make it as smooth as possible.

Check out the free demo on Steam to give it a run on your Deck:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2955320/Horse_Runner_DX/

PS: Let me know if you have any questions about the game or the tech! I'll be hanging out in the comments :-)

What is Horse Runner DX? It's a fast-paced, chaotic arcade runner heavily inspired by classics like Robot Unicorn Attack, Dino Run, and Canabalt. You build your own starting herd of up to 3 horses or unicorns, dash through procedural pixel art landscapes, dodge obstacles, grow your herd, and try to survive the escalating speed to hunt for high scores on the global leaderboard.

The game just received a massive wave of updates driven by player feedback, completely polishing the visuals, the camera tracking, and overall gameplay feel to make it as chaotic and smooth as possible. Thanks to the community, it actually just hit a 96% "Very Positive" rating on Steam!

I've dropped the Steam link and more details in the comments below!

PS: I'll be around in the comments if you have any questions or feedback!

Hey! I've been redesigning the character selection screen for my project, trying to capture that classic Mario Kart grid vibe where players can select their starting herd.

To be honest, it was an absolute nightmare to design because the engine renders everything at a strict native 320x180 resolution before upscaling. Trying to squeeze the selection grid, the slots, the stats, and all UI elements into that tiny screen took a ton of iterations.

How it works: You first select a slot on the right side (1, 2, 3), and then pick a horse from the grid on the left to fill it. I've also attached a second screenshot showing how the right side dynamically switches to an unlock/shop view when selecting a locked horse in the grid.

Would love to get your honest feedback on the layout. Does the selection flow feel intuitive to you just by looking at it? Anything you would change?

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I just published the new update 1.5.0. Now you can begin each run with up to 3 horses and create your own herd builds right from the start. Other big changes include a new Mario Kart style character selection, a smoother camera, support for high refresh rates and many other improvements (see update details).

The demo has also been updated to 1.5.0.
Horse Runner DX on Steam

The old trailer made the game look much slower than it actually is, so I completely redid it to better show the fast arcade gameplay, the growing horse herd chaos and that addictive flow feeling of Horse Runner DX.

I also recently released an update based on player feedback with improved visual clarity, smoother herd movement, a new friends leaderboard and several bug fixes.