A quick piece about how shitty games sections are finding their way into every website shrubino.substack.com/p/why-does-e...

made a little postcard from my summer in GameMaker

WIP

The rumors are true: I, too, took part in GMTK 2025 with my pal @shreeshayelameli.bsky.social. Lots of learning, some laughs, and four days of scrappy spriting and coding. Is our game good? It's a game! Give NEBULON 5000 a go, and see if you can beat my high score: shrubino.itch.io/gmtk-filler-...

5-min bird for today's theme. I kinda hate this guy @pixeldailies.bsky.social

quick #guts sketch for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

I wrote about games that actually tell a story vs. those that just hint at one: shrubino.substack.com/p/does-chess...

1-bit #fencer for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

quick #loading sketch for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

some successful, some unsuccessful -- dithering and lighting practice for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

this was take #3 on today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social theme, boulder

Wrote down some thoughts about memes as decodable language that follows the structure of gameplay. give it a read! open.substack.com/pub/shrubino...

quick #cephalopod(s) study for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

#acorn for @pixeldailies.bsky.social -- I'm wildly out of practice on my cursive

Launching a substack to write more about games, jokes, narratives, pathfinding. First post is a depository of all the ideas I'll never be able to finish: open.substack.com/pub/shrubino...

#Locus for @pixeldailies.bsky.social, or: more concept art for a game I'll never finish. "Universail", a sunship yacht racing game where you navigate gravity and solar currents to outcompete your rival at Mercurial Royale Marina

#coatofarms for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

#plinko (Smart Ball!) for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

Little #carrot using all 13 colors of this palette for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

"if you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind" quick little @pixeldailies.bsky.social to get back in the habit -- theme is "cold"

today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social is a fanart of any trans creator's work, obviously there's only one option:

today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social theme is #orange, slowly finding ways to make lil animations faster

today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social theme was "cover" but at first I read it as "clover" which is, conveniently, a type of cover

Back on the @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart grind, today's theme is #snowboard

For the #B1T game jam, my pal @whoiskevinflynn.com and I made a lil game in a week!

1-bit yarn studies for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

animated 1-bit #jars for @pixeldailies.bsky.social

first shot at animation for @pixeldailies.bsky.social "forklift" #pixelart -- wayy more time intensive than I'd like, but that's learning for ya

Trying to get better at 1-bit drawing in prep for the #B1T game jam... much harder than I thought! Today's #pixelart for @pixeldailies.bsky.social : "Ammo"

"Skyship" for @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart

today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart theme is "lance" -- I like to imagine that's the name of the horse

today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart theme is "robot controller" -- it's not a robot controller, it's a *robot controller*, get it?

Concept #pixelart for a game I'll never make: G LEAGUE A disgraced NBYay player is banished to the G League, a tournament of Eastern European middle schoolers and JV rejects. Rhythm games are played to make plays and run up obscene scores against children. [1991, Arcade] @pixeldailies.bsky.social

"Your fingernails grow into sharp talons" -- DCSS-inspired #pixelart for today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social theme, "beastly"

today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart theme is "Character Creator" -- we love the symmetry feature, don't we

today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart theme is "mode" -- (been slacking b/c I'm on vacation but will hopefully post more this week)

I got into the NYU Games Center MFA!! In other news, I'm working on a grappling hook mechanic based on Worms: Armageddon's ninja rope, which happens to coincide nicely with today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart theme: "Scale"

"Are you sure this is still good?" Today's #pixelart for @pixeldailies.bsky.social is "Cloudy"

today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart is "piercing", so I drew one of my favorite enemies from Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup #iykyk

today's #pixelart for @pixeldailies.bsky.social is "fiery", hence, pepper mage

today's #pixelart for @pixeldailies.bsky.social is "chip". turns out there are a LOT of possible directions here

today is "skewer" for @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart -- low-pixel chess pieces are harder than I expected

"pyre" for today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart

late night @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart: "cavern" aka more dithering practice

wasn't crazy abt today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social theme (loot rarities) so instead I tried this #StillHereStillLife. Lots of learning in here (dithering, as always, but also palette selection is tough for an IRL image.) Gotta aim to be more representational!

today's @pixeldailies.bsky.social is "earthenware", I think this is my 9th one ever? dithering skills still needs lot of work #pixelart

today's #pixelart for @pixeldailies.bsky.social theme "spiral". trying to do more dithering and limiting my palettes

In an effort to show more gamedev stuff, bluesky is gonna be where I force myself to dump the @pixeldailies.bsky.social #pixelart of the day when I'm OK with my results -- today's theme is "swarm"

For the #gamedev folks on here: play my surf map on Itch! I'd love more feedback on how to make the introduction more intuitive shrubino.itch.io/surf-yosemite