we used to think games needed systems and interactivity but the truly wise know they only need systems

Forgot to actually post anything from pigcon but if I learned one thing over the weekend it’s that my game that’s more a rewriting of the novel Dracula than it is a game really appeals to people who look like they were lit majors more than it does gamers

if you’re at @pigsquad.com’s PIGCON on Saturday, come find my table to buy a physical DVD-ROM edition of BYTE! 🩸🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️ Not only does it come with the physical disc and TWO digital codes, as well as a game booklet, but it also has an EXCLUSIVE soundtrack CD 💿💿💿💿

PIGCON is a great way to share your game and meet other gamedev folks! The show is May 30th & 31st in Portland, and our speaker schedule is up now. pigcon.pigsquad.com Here is another lil trailer to help explain :) youtube.com/shorts/-0G0c...

guess who's going to be showing their hit vampire vn/rpg BYTE at @pigsquad.com's PIGCON on May 30th??? (it's me) if you're in portland come say hi and grab a sticker (special-made for this event :P)

guess who's going to be showing their hit vampire vn/rpg BYTE at @pigsquad.com's PIGCON on May 30th??? (it's me) if you're in portland come say hi and grab a sticker (special-made for this event :P)

Tickets are live, and the presentation schedule is up now! More details & full games list coming soon 🌲 We're just over 3 weeks away! pigcon.pigsquad.com

last week I finished my next issue of whale watching quarterly In this issue: - Hara-Kiri: Death of a SamurAI - Skate Story: Micro-review - Death Stranding: On Games that Aren’t Games whalewatching.neocities.org/posts/2026-0...

I know it’s annoying that I constantly ask people to sub, but subbing makes a huge difference. @aftermath.site has around 5,000 paying subs right now; most of us still work other jobs on the side. we have over 90k bluesky followers. if a fraction subscribed, it would literally change our lives

In a culmination of my long-standing desires to write more, have more fun, and make a zine, I’ve started a little digital zine I’ll be using to contain most of my writing and devlogs from now on whalewatching.neocities.org

Moved onto some other stuff for the time being but I found out about @ambientcg.com pbr materials and have decided that realism is going to be my thing now #blender #godot

BYTE’s 50% off for the Steam winter sale right now!! It’s not Halloween anymore but it’s always vampire season 🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️🧛‍♀️ store.steampowered.com/app/2946750/...

work on my recreation of Portland’s Pearl District continues I now have a whole bunch of buildings, cars, and started on a diner #gamedev #godot #blender

I’ve been trying a few different things at once but for a few different projects I want to work on i want to recreate Portland’s Pearl District in game form. So far I have a little pretty corner in progress

It’s not on sale because it launched less than a month ago but byte’s in the Steam Scream 4 Fest right now!! You might see it buried in the rpg tags as you’re searching for cool new things to play 🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️ store.steampowered.com/app/2946750/...

Just got the email that byte is officially Steam Deck verified!! You can now officially trust that byte will run with full functionality on the go 🏃‍♀️ #indiedev #steamdeck #indiehorror

byte’s out now(🧛‍♀️) but there are lots of punk movies I never got to so here are my letterboxd reviews of four final certified punk! classics™️ - Ikebukuro West Gate Park (2000, show) - Repo Man (1984) - Linda Linda Linda (2005) - Velvet Goldmine (1998)

PLAY BYTE NOOWWWW At long last BYTE is out now on Steam for you to buy, download, and play at will!!! #byte #indiedev #indiehorror store.steampowered.com/app/2946750/...

Day 5(!!!!!) of waiting for steam to respond to me. today you should watch hackers. It’s maybe the most famous punk movie and it’s awesome. Just wall to wall 90s hacker names and rollerblades

Day 4 today’s movie is slc punk. it’s my favorite punk movie and one of my all-time favorite movies. this typically gets a little underrated in punk movie rankings because it starts out with the usual punk movie absurdity but ends shockingly honestly and seriously. I love the ending tho

Day 3 of not being able to release byte until Steam gets back to me. Today you should watch brass knuckle boys. It’s written AND directed by the great Kankuro Kudo and it understands 21st century punk on a level I haven’t seen anywhere else (except other Kudo works)

Still no response from Steam support so instead I’ll just post about punk movies I’ve been watching lately until byte is out. This image is from wild zero, a 1999 zombie movie that is mostly an excuse for Japanese noise rock band guitar wolf to break stuff and scream about the power of rock and roll

Steam still has not gotten back to me about the error (bug?) blocking me from releasing byte so I’m choosing to follow the wise words of my hero guitar wolf and believe in rock and roll in order to get this game out there

Actively trying to release byte but steam is just throwing an error and their support team hasn’t gotten back to me. promise the game is coming out imminently, but steam is not making it easy

byte comes out in two days!! as part of a retrospective exercise, I wrote a little (kinda big) blog post about how byte came to be, what it is, and how I feel about it if you want to see more behind the scenes of the game open.substack.com/pub/jamesmar...

finally got around to releasing the little (big) substack post I wrote a couple months ago about skateboarding games and how much they all annoy me open.substack.com/pub/jamesmar...

Back in 2018 I wrote a concept for a twenty one pilots fan game based on the Trench story. Over the years that merged with other ideas to become BYTE, so it’s surreal that their “conclusion” to the trench story released three weeks before BYTE. A real full circle moment for me. Good album too |-/

still avoiding looking at the internet because that’s where the true horrors lie but popping back in to say that byte releases in one month from today!!! I’ll be posting more updates and info this month but for now enjoy 180p Jonathan thanks to the new resolution settings 👾🧛‍♀️👾 #indiedev #indiehorror

I’m a little late on the announcement but BYTE is live on the Tiny Teams showcase right now!! Check it out here!!! #tinyteams2025 www.youtube.com/live/YjiXD3o...

Check out BYTE (and all the other cool games) in Tiny Teams right now!!! 🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️ #tinyteams2025

I’ve been busy not being online lately but I’m super excited to share that BYTE is going to be included in this week’s @tinyteamsfest.bsky.social Steam event from August 7th-14th!! Stay tuned for a new demo update and keep an eye on the official streams to see BYTE in action 🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️ #tinyteams2025

They said you can’t write emails, Harker. They said you have no charisma, Harker. They said you can’t buy a property, Harker. They said you’ll never make it in NYC, Harker. How will you respond, Harker? Help Jonathan prove the haters wrong in BYTE’s demo right now: s.team/a/2946750/

It’s breakfast time, let's all gather around Nyssa to bless our meal. Uh…..oh…..uh…..okay. I guess that was nice… BYTE demo available on Steam now! s.team/a/2946750/ #IndieGame #IndieHorror

BYTE is in this month’s Next Fest with a new demo that showcases some brand new FMV! I shot all the videos in Oregon recently and they’re used in addition to 3D diorama scenes in some of the game’s cutscenes. Take a look here and check it all out in the demo now! #indiegame s.team/a/2946750/

Steam Next Fest officially starts today and BYTE’s demo is out and ready to go! And it’s official! BYTE’s full release will happen on October 1st. Check the game out and stay tuned for more updates as we approach release! 🩸🧛‍♀️🩸🧛‍♀️ s.team/a/2946750/ #indiegame #indiehorror

Wishlisting is free — but for a dev, it’s fuel. A wishlist isn’t just a ‘maybe later.’ For a lot of indies, it’s the difference between visibility and obscurity. If you’re even a little curious, hit that button.

Truly yesterday's "main event" was spiritual poison. An absolute donkey nuts excuse for a "AAA" showcase and the best excuse we have for simply scuttling this whole fucking project and burying it in the Mojave Desert. noescapevg.com/summer-geoff...

#PitchYaGame - 'Vignettes: The Dream City' LSD: Dream Emulator crossed with a mix of King's Field and Fear & Hunger. Your dreams are haunted by a strange city, and you feel supernaturally drawn to explore it. What will you find within?

It’s #PitchYaGame time!! In BYTE, take the role of Jonathan Harker, Dracula’s real estate agent as you work with the Count and investigate ominous events in the castle BYTE’s a game about fear and desire. Experience the gripping visual novel story and tactics combat in the demo right now!

got some new screenshots for byte’s Steam page 📸📸 #indiedev #indiehorror

here’s a little 45-second preview of the videos I shot in oregon for byte. They’ll be available to see in my next fest demo next week 🎥🩸🎥❤️🎥

haven’t checked out BYTE’s demo yet? It’s on Steam’s homepage right now as part of the Games in NY Steam event!

We're on Steam today (feat. me making a fool of myself) with the GAMES IN NEW YORK sale: a whole lot of games made or set in New York! Have you played Despelote yet? Crush House? Immortality? Getting Over it with BFOD? Beglitched? Ape Out? Norwood Suite? store.steampowered.com/sale/GamesinNY

The Games in NY Steam sale is live! Check out BYTE and all the other games featured here 🩸🧛‍♀️🩸 store.steampowered.com/sale/GamesinNY

Have been catching up on emails and wanted to share that BYTE’s demo was selected to be a part of @nyugamecenter.bsky.social’s upcoming Games in New York Steam sale! It runs from 5/29-5/31 and will feature tons of cool games made in NY 🍎🦇🍎🦇🍎

I don’t have good video for it yet but I’m adding fmv into byte #indiedev #indiehorror

finale

Don’t have any screenshots yet but just finished up the last area I needed to make for byte 🩸🩸🩸🩸

This story is really meaningful to me because I have been thinking about vert skating and its peaks and valleys (lol) for nearly a year. In reporting, I learned a lot about something I thought I already understood. I hope you'll find it interesting, too. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/30/s...