deadsoftie / a research log
research log · est. 2019 · written by hand

Notes on game engine architecture, the craft of development, and whatever else happens to be on my mind.

I'm Rahul Nair -> a game engine developer and grad student at DigiPen, building a custom C++ engine and making games. This is my public notebook. Technical write-ups, GDC recaps, retro dev workshops, books I'm reading, and the occasional philosophical tangent.

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No. I

Gitnook: Local-Only Version Control Inside Any Git Repo

My game team had a pile of untracked markdown files nobody wanted to commit and nobody wanted to lose. So I built gitnook.

essay · 5 min · Mar 29 #tools
No. II

GDC 2026: Talks, Roundtables, and No Small Talk

Spent the weekend in SF for GDC with one goal: skip the parties and learn something. Here's what was actually worth the time.

essay · 7 min · Mar 18 #gamedev
No. III

Developing Snake on GBDK-2020

Building a Snake workshop for Game Boy development using GBDK-2020. LCG RNG, sprite limits, bitplanes, and the limits of an 8-bit CPU.

essay · 8 min · Nov 13 #gamedev

004 Recent

5 of 6
29 Mar 2026
Gitnook: Local-Only Version Control Inside Any Git Repo
5 min
18 Mar 2026
GDC 2026: Talks, Roundtables, and No Small Talk
7 min
13 Nov 2025
Developing Snake on GBDK-2020
8 min
28 Dec 2024
Reading Aim for 2025
4 min
31 Mar 2019
When Time Becomes Meaningless
4 min
all 6 essays →