As we enter the New Year remember fear of making bad art is holding you back. Fear of people not liking your work is holding you back. Rejection is holding you back You'll make bad art, you'll have people not like your work, and you'll be rejected. Moving past it is half the job of being a creative

I can’t tell if it’s being out of the Bay or being back in Boston but I can literally feel parts of myself healing here. I cannot overstate how much easier community building is in a place that actually WANTS community and is both culturally and architecturally built for it.

I contributed to this list. Top 10 games that were most influential to me as a designer, personally polarisgamedesign.com/the-polaris-...

Yeah but it’s a dry insane

PSA: Please do not send me or my colleagues your story ideas for the game we're actively working on. Especially do not send us your long, detailed manifesto about what changes we should make and your ideas for improving the story. We can't read it. We won't read it. Don't do it!

Okay look, Spotify Wrapped was cute for a minute but I really don’t need to look back on my year in Uber rides 🤣

The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.

@andrewjack.bsky.social on his first job instantly slotted into a team being assembled too fast for our own good, took the lead when needed, beat the door down when it needed to be done and wrote countless episodes that made everything around them better. Dude’s amazing.

@alasdairstuart.bsky.social for being a great creative lead and getting our team through…let’s say trying conditions.

🚨GAME AWARDS BEST DRESSED🚨 To nominate yourself or someone else please either send me a message on signal (alyssamercante.29) or an email at alyssamerc(at)gmail. Full body SOLO pictures HIGHLY preferred unless everyone in the photo is up for nomination. Outfit details would be lovely! Boost!

Reminding folks that the Academy Awards started as a union-busting attempt and it is only through decades of union battles that they became anything like a legitimate awards show. The economics of the Oscars are very different from those of TGAs, and you see that reflected in the show itself

The World of Warcraft art team always manage to blow my mind, every release they always outdo themselves. I’m like “how can they top this?!” And then they DO + I’m 🤯💖💕😍💖💙 I LOVE the art blasts we get every now + then, + I’m trying to collect all the art books bc I love the work they do so much! 💖

The best designers I know at cdpr have no social media presence (wisely) and never do PR, so people don't know that one of the most complex Easter eggs in gaming was mostly made by one guy. Best Easter egg goes to... danisz markiewicz! Great guy great designer.

I keep remembering gamedevs that don't get enough love, like @renegadesector.bsky.social who makes lots of cool PS1 style action(?) games. My favorites are Thunder Kid I and II but there are lots to choose from.

Oops, late mention, just realized I hadn't followed @ycjygames.bsky.social on here! Post Void is a truly sick speedy dream of a game. And their latest release "Keep Driving" looks really good, was nominated for Indie Awards, which are coming up next week!

And that wraps up the Odd Dimensions segment of the Stacey Mason Game Awards, tune in next year if you are also not watching #TheGameAwards where I will drink another liter of Dr. Pepper and spam deep cuts from my Steam Backlog of favorite indie developers and games journalists. 🎙️👨‍🎤🕹️

Not very active on here, but @sorath.dev for Devil Daggers. I haven't played Hyper Demon yet, but Devil Daggers is one of my favorite "perfect games" and I play it every Halloween with the sound cranked up.

For "best niche feeds about my pet game genre obsession" it's a 3-way tie between @shmupdb.bsky.social , @stgshmups.bsky.social , and @shmuplations.bsky.social in case you haven't figured it out, posts about SHMUPs, artwork, interviews, new releases both indie and remastered.

Also can't find them on Bsky, but Caiys / Caiysware gets my Best Knockoff Award for "Boneraiser Minions" a Vampire-Survivors-like with delightful pixel art, tons of replay value, just great style and excellent humor. store.steampowered.com/developer/Ca...

@zenorogue.bsky.social for HyperRogue, a truly mind-bending roguelike based on non-euclidian geometry. Sounds insane, but it's very playable and there is tons of unique content and value in it. And a mobile port that's fantastic on a tablet. Still bust it out now and then!

Can't find them on here, but A Sharp Games, the developer of King of Dragon Pass, Six Ages, and the recently released Six Ages 2, have a really unique narrative sword and sorcery style of game that, like, 99/100 people have never heard of. A joy to share store.steampowered.com/curator/3760...

@kitfoxgames.com because they make and publish nothing but top tier stuff. A lot of it has EXCELLENT narrative. Everyone knows Caves of Qud and Dwarf Fortress (right?!) but their other games are all really good, at varying scales.

@bertilhorberg.bsky.social for Mechstermination Force. I dunno what it says about me that I have lots of awards for underappreciated run'n'gun games on the Switch, but there you go 🤷‍♂️ a trophy for your giant robot bullet hell battler. 🤖🏆

I hate how fast we gloss over these things, but in all seriousness, everyone who was nominated for Best Debut Indie did a fucking phenomenal job and they should be very proud

In Night City, you’ve come a long way - all that you’ve done, all that you’ve seen. Thank you for the past 5 years in this City of Legends. 💛 Now, please, enjoy this special anniversary trailer we prepared for the occasion: ▶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHrE...

Trying to explain The Game Awards to my friend, a professional film critic, is... very hard.

@dominictarason.com for continually posting the best short-form blurbs and reviews and info about games/mods/community stuff I have never heard of, both new and old. One of the best indie discovery follows on this platform. Piquing my interest is hard, they do it on the regular.

I feel like caves of qud's controller setup is so good that it should just become the canonical controller layout for roguelikes from now on. it's so good I might actually prefer it to mouse and keyboard. Wildly underappreciated revolutionary genre work in that one element alone

@timegentleman.bsky.social and @danthat.bsky.social for the second funniest writing in games, periodt. I have never played a game of theirs that doesn't actually make me LOL multiple times.

Honestly I think @donnotron.bsky.social deserves more recognition for Black Future '88. It's a synth wave cyberpunk masterpiece of a game. Played a lot of it on the Switch. Bangin' soundtrack. The perfect 80's vibe.

YOOOO Control Resonant looks amazing!

Okay but this looks extremely charming and the art style is stunning

I'm just a fan these days and whoever made Vampire Survivors crafted literally the perfect thing I needed to get through some hard rough times when my own brain was my worst enemy. I mostly likely would have been fine without it. What a blessing to not have to find out.

I didn't have $520,000 for a #GameAwards Trailer so I'm posting my cute Timed Hit RPG where you brutally murder all the Zodiac signs here instead for free. #gamedev 🎮 #pixelart #indiegame

@spacegoatvii.bsky.social for exceptional QA (although she's design now). @kchironis.bsky.social for "person who personally improved the lives of dozens, maybe hundreds, of devs."

@tanyaxshort.bsky.social and @bexsaltsman.bsky.social for endlessly supporting indies and always being willing to give advice. So many games are better because they give back to our industry.

@bravemule.bsky.social and @marsmella.bsky.social are hands down the best collaborators and teammates i could ask for. so much skill and generosity that leads to the whole ko_op narrative team operating as a well oiled machine

BizOps. Oh you had a thousand and one contractors and vendors supporting that game? Someone was hustling behind the scenes to get all of that paperwork squared away and they barely got a thank you for it

@enikofox.com should get something for making the best gay furry Mario clone

Community Care Awards: @silent0siris.bsky.social for volunteering to DM @willovergard.bsky.social, Peter Pan to his band of Lost Devs @seattleindies.bsky.social for keeping all the lights on @videogameworkers.bsky.social, @codecwa.bsky.social, and all the Microsoft and ABK unions for obv reasons

@grlpants.bsky.social for speaking up even when it gets her in trouble for speaking the truth.

@cypheroftyr.bsky.social for persisting in trying to make the industry better.

An award for @rachelbydesign.bsky.social for being the calming presence on an uncalm team. @thewileyside.bsky.social for making the creepiest/cutest quests. @katemakesstuff.bsky.social for superb writing and clever mechanics.

@six6jiang.bsky.social @carolynmichelle.bsky.social and @benkuchera.bsky.social for being awesome games writers who wrote so well, I went and found them to follow on socials.

An award to @hazelmonforton.com for keeping people asking "okay, but what are we doing for the sickos?" An award to @shadesogrey.bsky.social for making players cry. An award to @sarahcotner.bsky.social for sheer levels of design gremlin and chaos.

@designjunkie010.bsky.social definitely, and everyone that is behind organizing and updating documentation. Managing information to keep different teams and disciplines up to date is so critical, also Jessica's a wonderful person.

I'd give @resteiner.com an award for "carrying our indie game on his back a la Samwise Gamgee."

to all the contractors who can't share what they're working on (even though they desperately need to put it on their CV) i see u 🍷

Never met an audio team I didn’t like 🤷 If you ever get the chance to work with @danwishman.bsky.social, take it immediately and listen to *everything* he says.