Boot Up the Nostalgia: Village Studios Unveils 'Hack ’95' at PC Gaming Show—And the Demo is Live! techmash.co.uk/2026/06/08/b... @techmashcouk #Hack95 #PCGamingShow #IndieGames #Deckbuilder #RetroGaming

The 90s computer nerd adventure I’m writing for, Hack 95, now has a demo on steam and a website. Come and play! (And please wishlist on steam if you like the look of it!) 💾👾 hack95.com

Yep, Hack '95 is the new game from Village Studio led by @willluton.bsky.social, have been helping on the bizdev/publishing side of things, do check it the trailer & demo! www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv8n...

The demo for Village Studio’s nostalgic hacking game Hack 95 is out now! I am on the writing team! Come and enter the world of 56k modems, phreaks and tiny FMV windows! #PCGamingShow store.steampowered.com/app/4685250/...

At 8.03pm BST, Village Studio’s next title, a game I’ve been making since I was 8 years old, will be revealed to the world at #PCGamingShow I think you’re going to love this if you always wanted to be a hacker, but on 56kbps dialup. Watch live here: youtu.be/yv8nZY8auPQ

Thanks to Declan of Into Games & @ukieofficial.bsky.social for speaking to me @developconference.com about issues faced by working class people in the UK video games industry & how they're trying to fix it. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... @willluton.bsky.social @manycatsstudios.bsky.social

Was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night the last great 2D game of its era? We discuss this in the latest episode of Games of Note. Listen & subscribe; Spotify: zurl.co/8XYxH Apple Podcasts: zurl.co/ivaZM RSS Feed: zurl.co/xAQdF Follow us at: BlueSky: zurl.co/4YQSv YouTube Shorts: zurl.co/wQbag

🚀Introducing Games of Note, a podcast games that matter. 💬 Less ramble, more research and context. First episode (Shenmue) is out now: Spotify - open.spotify.com/show/3r8K8y2... Amazon - music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/ded... Apple - podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/... Please like and share!

We're LIVE! we've just launched our new podcast, hosted by @willluton.bsky.social & @wayneemanuel.bsky.social where we talk about the impact of video games!

🚀Introducing Games of Note, a podcast games that matter. 💬 Less ramble, more research and context. First episode (Shenmue) is out now: Spotify - open.spotify.com/show/3r8K8y2... Amazon - music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/ded... Apple - podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/... Please like and share!

Everyone, I have some opinions. It's about mobile games and if they're shit. But more about how mobile game making is making all games shit. But that shit can save us. medium.com/@will_luton/...

Everyone, I have some opinions. It's about mobile games and if they're shit. But more about how mobile game making is making all games shit. But that shit can save us. medium.com/@will_luton/...

Someone is still fronting the domain costs to dunk on the N-Gage sidetalkin.com/original/

Some time ago I raised a lot of money. It was hard in until I figured out how to do it. This is what I remember of what I learned: medium.com/@will_luton/...

As far as game merch goes, is there 2,000 people willing to drop $1.5k on a watch? I have no idea, byt interested to find out www.hodinkee.com/articles/int...

New blog! Did you know: 📈 AliExpress reaches over 150m users worldwide? 🕹️ The app has four full mobile games and several smaller titles? 💸 The game economy is complexly linked and dollar-backed? 😥 It's not perfect? departmentofplay.net/games-of-ali...

HOW TO SURVIVE IN THE GAMES INDUSTRY! I’ve been working in game development for 18 years. I’ve worked at SEGA, Rovio and founded my own studios. I’ve had ups and downs. Big hits and crushing failures. Here’s my a thread of tips that might help.

Very excited to announce that Department of Play, my consulting agency, is returning from next month. We've helped improve games as diverse as big PS5 blockbusters to tiny indie games. Find out more: departmentofplay.net/reopening-st...

Very excited to announce that Department of Play, my consulting agency, is returning from next month. We've helped improve games as diverse as big PS5 blockbusters to tiny indie games. Find out more: departmentofplay.net/reopening-st...

I have ADHD. I wrote about it. And it was hard. But I tried to make it fun. I hope it helps someone with ADHD or someone close to someone with ADHD. medium.com/@will_luton/...

I have ADHD. I wrote about it. And it was hard. But I tried to make it fun. I hope it helps someone with ADHD or someone close to someone with ADHD. medium.com/@will_luton/...

The game I’ve been most proud of in my career is Pixel Miner for the Pebble. So excited for the hardware to be coming back! hackaday.com/2025/01/28/g...

⚠️NEW BLOG⚠️ I wrote about the wild ride that was crypto games, from turning down a free $200k to the fear of getting hit with a pipe wrench. medium.com/@will_luton/...

⚠️NEW BLOG⚠️ I wrote about the wild ride that was crypto games, from turning down a free $200k to the fear of getting hit with a pipe wrench. medium.com/@will_luton/...

If you missed it yesterday, how algorithms saved and ruined the games industry medium.com/@will_luton/...

It’s been a while. But I wrote something. It’s about how the games industry is fucked. And ducks 🦆 Enjoy WILDOWS 95 👍 will-luton.co.uk#post-democra...

I have a feeling about games right now, that I can best describe as “a vacuum”. It feels like many of us are waiting for something to happen because something always happens. Despite it never having been better, it feels a little stale.

UI vs UX

Designers don’t paper prototype. Unlessssss you’re making paper games. Otherwise you’ll make paper games. 🙅‍♀️🗒️ 👍🖥️

🟥

Sega-boy

Something I’ve been thinking on recently: Why are videogames so consistently “low culture”? What does a premium or luxury brand in games look like? Short thread 🧵

Thank you to the people who messaged me. RTs really appreciated too.

I just found out a good friend and my first boss was rushed in to hospital this week. After a number of surgeries it looks like he’ll pull through, but might not be home for Christmas. I’d like to pack his Switch with games! Any devs willing to share codes? My DMs are open.

About a year ago picked up sewing as a hobby. Patterned and put together this raw edge hoodie this week.

New pickup on PS2. Gonna McTwist in to a topside acid soul.

Hi, I’m Will. Game designer/entrepreneur. I ran product on Angry Birds 2 and wrote “the book on F2P”. Worked on everything from AAA to smartwatch games. I chat mostly about game design and business. But ADHD, so good chance I’m off topic. Currently founder of indie Village Games.

When it is the UX: When players really wanted to do a thing but couldn’t work out how. If they didn’t really want to do a thing, focus on building something they really want to do. Then optimise with UX.

Design trap no 1: Think it’s the UX. It’s not. So many teams chase better UX think it will improve retention: The team like the game, it must be players don’t get it, right? Short thread 🧵

Sony is reportedly in talks to acquire FromSoftware, the developer behind Elden Ring, Dark Souls and Bloodbourne, as part of a buyout of its owner, the Japanese publishing giant Kadokawa. bit.ly/410t6VY

Saved you a click: Symphony of the Night. The game is bucketlist. If you haven’t played it, play it. www.timeextension.com/guides/the-b...

I think we teach game design completely wrong. The focus is way too much on outputs, like GDDs. That’s the easy bit. I think we should teach design philosophy. Short thread 🧵

This is a real loss for the UK industry. We took Inferni to WASD this year, it opened so many doors for us, got us real player feedback. It will be missed www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

GOTY in any given year

"How can video games challenge the status quo and promote egalitarian values? Games critic Marijam Did & writer Dan Griliopoulos discuss ways video games' influence can be harnessed for good." 🗓️ Nov 13 - 6.30PM - Conway Hall, London 🎟️ £10 • £7 🔗 loom.ly/sTKI_VQ

#PitchYaGame 🔊 it's 2001, you're a young boy who lives in quito, ecuador. the country's soccer team is about to qualify for the World Cup, and there is a buzz in the air...⚽️ this is our game despelote! a slice-of-life adventure about soccer & community, fully voiced in spanish! #indiedev #gamedev

I’d given myself a couple days next week to research and implement a pathfinding algorithm. Last night I settled on A* and thought “I wonder how well Cursor would do?” Implemented in under 3hrs. Almost 2hrs of that was debugging. It was my own code in another script! This shit is wild.

All I want from AI: Hookup all my prefabs before I press play.