What is Nighthawks? It's a vampire game where the vampires have been exposed to the world... but it's also different in tone from most. Vampire games tend to be cold and cynical, but this time, being a light in the darkness can be the real adventure. store.steampowered.com/app/1221950/...

Read more about Mandrakes, the naming of things, and how to introduce a new world to a player without going too weird, too fast in our recent blog post by @chrisgardiner.bsky.social. And if you, too, are enthralled by the magic of the Mandrakes then please drop us a wishlist; it's a great help!

Here are some real and actual facts about Mandrakes: - Their smell could drive away demons - It was a popular component of fertility spells - Witches used it in the unguents which gave them the power of flight So: the perfect plant to name our new game and its protagonist after. #indiedev

Big same.

I did a newsletter. But more importantly I DID A VIDEO. Riiiight out of my comfort zone, but entirely inspired and necessary because Doomsong is so fucking cool. Check it out (and also get yourself a copy of Wyrd Science issue 7):

Refuse to live in a world where I’m expected to pretend I understand what gilts are.

hey! i have space to do some freelance work next week! you want me to look at your steam page? you want to talk about indie game marketing and get some solid advice? let's talk!!

This is what we're talking about when we say we're excited to have honest-to-goodness sunlight in our new game, Mandrake.

Just seen some people are trying to spell “manoeuvre“ again. Please don’t. Someone could die. That word is only to be spelled by trained writers working in safe conditions and using specialist equipment.

I got to write another Exceptional Story for Fallen London!! Check it out!!!

This is your official warning that Halloween approaches and the best thing you could do with your TTRPG group for a one off blood-shrine-hunting Regency romp is to buy and read TEETH: Blood Cotillion now

You can read a full blog post about our visual development - and give us a wishlist - on Steam. It really helps!

We're making Mandrake, a rural life sim set in a beguiling new world inspired by British history and folklore. Now we're not in the Fallen London universe (Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies), we had the opportunity to add sunshine! And trees! 😮 🧵 #wishlistwednesday

92% funded! And at 100% we'll reveal the author & artist duo behind the 17,000 word bonus 'zine we're gunning to unlock as our first stretch goal... www.backerkit.com/c/projects/b...

reading through bits of fallen london: the roleplaying game for approvals is truly a delicious gift, i think you all are going to LOVE all the lore we're capturing *and* all the new things going into it

This policy is stupid, cruel, immoral, chaotic, pointless and – as if more was needed – economically illiterate and destructive. Adopting it requires lying to people about what it would actually entail, and the media choosing not to discuss its horrifying costs. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Imagine an AU where young (not)Genghis gets his shit kicked in by a rival, loses his throne, and becomes a hunted outlaw across all of (not)Asia, that's Orhan Timur. 1) you can read em in any order 2) Dariel is SO GOOD at writing action, small scale or large 3) he makes wizards so gross, goddamn

This is a lovely piece (and I particularly enjoyed the fierce Dickens opinions) but be warned: by the end of it, my list of “books I have to read“ had expanded dangerously.

So, you know we've a new print mag out in a hot minute but that also means we can finally spend some time on our new website too Kicking things off @macreadymusings.bsky.social speaks to @andrewgillis.bsky.social about Girl By Moonlight (@evilhat.bsky.social), hope, transcendence & transformation

Very much digging the look of this. None of the TTRPG attempts to emulate Dark Souls so far have worked for me, but this one looks very, very promising. Plus @soulmuppet.co.uk do great writing, ingenious narrative design, and beautiful books. www.kickstarter.com/projects/sou...

Not only am I communications director at Failbetter Games, I am also available for indie games marketing help. Typically I focus on Steam store pages. Get them right, and everything else becomes easier. My services are as follows:

Why call our new game Mandrake? And what's in the name Mandrake, for the people of Chandley? Here's @chrisgardiner.bsky.social to answer whether a name is ever just a name.

Team Cherry: "What's Steam? Is it a software?"

One of my all-time favourite games. A complete reimagining of D&D from the ground up, beautifully imagined and written. Plus it has an incredible range of support in the form of scenarios (all of which are fantastic) and articles collected in yearly annuals. It punches well above its weight!

Star Wars Outlaws was straight up my GOTY last year – it’s made with such love and attention, and is the most immersive realisation of Star Wars I’ve seen in a game. I still go back to play it – just hearing the intro music is a pure endorphin injection for me. It’s my happy place game. Pure joy.

Wyrd Science is the best, and you should buy it already. It’s also available digitally, so there is no good reason not to read all their great articles.

That's the art I did for Mandrake! Thank you very much!

Noice.

Aaaaand we're live!

Just remembered seeing Eternals at the cinema, and when Starfox appeared in the post-credits scene the row of teenage girls behind me abruptly LOST THEIR FUCKING MINDS. I was thinking, "Wow, I never knew Starfox had such a young & passionate following!" Readers, Starfox was played by Harry Styles.

Ever had something so shocking happen to you in a game that you needed to talk about it? I felt physically compelled to get this story out of my head and onto the page. Without that catharsis I genuinely didn’t know how to process and move on. www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/a-...

Fab thread of writing advice, but I especially like post 6 – about bringing the audience along with the characters’ decisions. Even if they don’t agree with the decisions, they need to be convinced the character would make them. One of the easiest things to slip up at, and it just breaks everything.

I was really happy with the way the Vagabond’s story turned out - anyone who’s played House of Many Doors knows I love it when an RPG companion has their own agenda, but Failbetter let me dial this up to 11 with Old Tom! Amazing article, thank you @jeremypeel.bsky.social 😁

yes. yes yes. the UK is (not just the originator but) the setting for some of the most popular culture in the world. there is a whole genre of videogames that are set in an imagined Britain. 'soft' power is real economic and even political power.

Absolutely loved this piece on a defining Sunless Skies experience by @jeremypeel.bsky.social All credit for the story in question should go to @skelicopter.bsky.social, who wrote the Amiable Vagabond with such relish and inventiveness. www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/a-...

More fabulous stuff coming from New Edge Sword and Sorcery, who are having a tremendous year.

Oh fantastic – a new issue of Wyrd Science! My absolute favourite gaming mag: a joyous celebration of tabletop gaming; beautifully produced and with proper interesting articles. And, as described in the blog post “a small but nonetheless important act of algorithmic resistance”

Had a great time on The Convergence podcast talking with @bangbangclick.bsky.social and @danmaher.bsky.social about game narratives. Bit of a AA bonding experience, and great to get to talk about differences and commonalities in our respective games’ approaches to humour, to lore, to character.

Errrrrr this sounds fucking rad?

I wrote this month's subscriber story for Fallen London – the first one I've written in apparently NINE YEARS. It's an intimate story set on an eccentric, quiet square about how routine can trap us; and how isolation makes us vulnerable to our demons. (With a bonus adorable beetle.) [1/4]

our players are good

I wrote this month's subscriber story for Fallen London – the first one I've written in apparently NINE YEARS. It's an intimate story set on an eccentric, quiet square about how routine can trap us; and how isolation makes us vulnerable to our demons. (With a bonus adorable beetle.) [1/4]

Who the fuck invented mosquitos?

ɹɐǝp ɥo

cheers very much @pcgamer.com for the coverage on mandrake this month <3

I think there are insights and examples in here that can be applied to any form of storytelling: whether art, writing, etc. Working with @erionmakuo.bsky.social is a joyous high point of my career, so I wanted to dig into why and how she’s so good at conveying character and setting through her art.

I think there are insights and examples in here that can be applied to any form of storytelling: whether art, writing, etc. Working with @erionmakuo.bsky.social is a joyous high point of my career, so I wanted to dig into why and how she’s so good at conveying character and setting through her art.

I love New Edge’s stuff. They have become the shepherds for a whole genre.

Can anyone recommend any good, accessible sources on caravanserais? Their history, what they would have looked like when active, etc? My basic online searching is just turning up tons of slop!

The sheer soaring exultance of the greatest “yeah” in pop music, three minutes and four seconds into Carly Rae Jepson’s ‘I Really Like You’.