My first academic publication came out today in Education Sciences! Our paper presents a card game I designed as an example of how bespoke boardgames can provide an authentic learning experience. Huge thanks to lead and co-authors @melissainau.bsky.social and @elisabone.bsky.social.

Gamers! There's a big bundle of games on sale on Itch.io to support the Immigrant Law Center of Minneapolis. itch.io/b/3484/no-ic...

Death has...gone. People have stopped dying - but they don’t just keep living, either. Someone needs to find Death and get him back to work, and that someone is you! Except you’re Rincewind. Again. (Sorry.) @katclay.com joins us to discuss the 1996 videogame, Discworld 2: Missing, Presumed...!?

Your #Bridgerton friends are back for season 7 (!!) of What Would Danbury Do? . With special guest host @jodimca.bsky.social, we waltz with episode one of season four of Bridgerton, Benedict, Sophie and the lady in silver. On all your favourite podcast providers or bridgertonpod.com #wwddpod

Hey folks, an FYI if you make extensive use of Safari tab groups - do not update any of your devices to OS 26.2. It will overwrite them with new blank ones and they cannot be recovered unless you have a Time Machine backup from before the update. And yes, I am in this boat. Quietly upset.

In high school we had an assignment to write a fictional news story. I wasn’t very in touch with politics, but I was inspired by the government response to the then recent Port Arthur shooting. I wrote about a protest that led to the split of the coalition over gun laws. Feels weird now.

#TTRPG Designers, players, & related nerds: @ttrpgcataloging.bsky.social is a group of Library & Information Science MA students are working on a research project focused on improving cataloging for TTRPGs — unbelievably important work! They’re seeking participants for interviews.

The VicEmergency website has been overloaded, causing intermittent outages. Use radio for official emergency updates www.abc.net.au/emergency/ho... #VicFires

When is an encyclopaedia not an encyclopaedia? Maybe when everything in it is made up… Liz and Ben discuss The #Discworld Companion in its various forms, but mostly the current edition, The Ultimate Discworld Companion, from Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs. #Pratchat91 (optional)

If it’s safe to leave, leave now. If VIC Emergency suggests you should leave, please leave

For many years I lived in an apartment without aircon. My list of places I could go to escape the heat in metro Melbourne

Your disabled friend isn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of getting whatever horrible lurgy you’ve reassured them isn’t Covid, it has been revealed.

We did this on stage in 2011, in a little musical called The Terminativity. I was Melchior. youtu.be/F6sE3Fjgi18

Here it is. The final 24 hours. You've helped coax banked embers into a steady flame. Tell me, what is one thing you'll bring with you into What-Comes-Next? Seeds? Thread? A good kitchen knife? What will you make of what's left? Together, let's light up the world. www.kickstarter.com/projects/lum...

Heads up that the Discord face video age verification system requires you to remove your glasses, then has written instructions on the screen, including moving closer or further away. No doubt verification is partly an estimate of how bad your eyesight is based on how long this takes.

The requests across various platforms to verify my age has begun. All using third party services. The least intrusive option, credit card, does not work with Visa/MC debit. (I assume that’s why; it doesn’t say.) How many different companies will I have to let scan my face, or ID documents?

Brendan Keogh's Putting Challenge is currently 40% off on Steam! It is not Steam Deck verified but I verify that it works on Steam Deck store.steampowered.com/app/1625830/...

We're essentially releasing The Grant Grover Anthology on the shareware model: one full episode for free, two more if you buy. Couldn't resist this little homage to DooM, though we probably won't use it as it doesn't really fit the tone of the game 🤓 #gamedev #indiedev

Is that a steam train - in Ankh-Morpork? Psychologist Craig Hildebrand-Burke joins Liz and Ben to put on our anoraks and write "40" in our notebooks for a gradely discussion of #TerryPratchett's penultimate #Discworld novel: Raising Steam! #Pratchat90

so nbd but………. DOGPILE IS RELEASING IN 2025!!!!!!! 🔥 youtu.be/3nypRrTHPCE?...

State Library of Victoria staff have been harassed, belittled, prevented from doing their job, fired and/or told they will be fired if they publicly tell the truth about the shiteshow of scandals & damage behind the scenes. Please speak for them by signing here. www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/ha...

US customers can now pick up the new boxed set version of The Quiet Year. Check out my webstore for more info! store.buriedwithoutceremony.com

This cause is close to my heart - please sign: A call for safe air and masking in healthcare settings #LongCovid #ME/CFS

We really needed a good news story in games, and this is great news!

Finally got around to starting #GhostsAustralia, and it’s a bloody delight. Lovely positive but cheeky tone, and it really feels authentically Australian, rather than a carbon copy of the original. Plus the cast are all wonderful - @michellebrasier.bsky.social, you’re killing it! I recommend.

Me: Hey Gemini, what is the absolute worst possible example for an AI prompt to encourage people to use you? Gemini: How about outsourcing human connection and gratitude, while abrogating involvement in a child's education? Me: Nailed it.

Screen Australia is doing a massive research project on the current state of the screen and games industries in Australia. Local devs, please consider taking the time to complete their survey survey.alchemer.com/s3/8573365/S...

I went to meet the 'Rockstar 31', the developers who were suddenly fired from their work on GTA 6 for what the studio has described as gross misconduct. That's not what the workers call it though. They have another couple of words they prefer to use: union busting. www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9nO...

I’m going down Peel Street on the tram and there’s so much dandelion in the air! It’s like the pollen count has become visible! I’ve never seen this before. Most visible around Queensberry and Victoria Streets.

No Pun Included is one of my favourite channels for game criticism and thinking. Efka and Elaine make some outstanding videos which get deeper than just reviews. For example, for Blood on the Clocktower, Efka digs into the history of social deduction games. You won’t regret subscribing.

It’s out! Get yourself to Steam and pick up your copy! store.steampowered.com/app/1166940/... Now to make it run on my ancient games PC - or get some play time on my partner’s around her current return to Skyrim. (The backup plan is to get it on XBox! It’s on GamePass if you have it.)

Today is the day for @deadstaticdrive.com! I have to go to work, but I’ll probably still sneak in a little bit of refreshing Steam until the launch time comes around. (This game was made in Melbourne by some of the best people, including one of my all-time faves. I can’t wait!)

Been a while since I had a #DoctorWho take, but I have a wish for the Christmas special for next year: that Billie gets one big amazing adventure and then regenerates, showing off the best consequence of the Timeless Child arc: that the occasional short-run Doctor is now possible with big names.

Does anyone know who I might contact at #PAXAus about getting copies of footage of performances I did for them in past years which are no longer available on Twitch?

Our next episode, #Pratchat89, is recording this weekend - and we’re discussing the #Discworld point and click adventure game from 1995! Ben may have lost the box and the disc but he still has his original manual… If you have questions, get them in ASAP!

I need a poster for a scripted podcast made, please reply with portfolios!!!!

Join us (finally) for a new episode as @brendanbarnett.bsky.social chats with Ben* about how one man can draw so many wizards, witches, dragons, guards, goblins and other denizen of the Disc, as we read Paul Kidby’s Designing Terry Pratchett’s #Discworld! #Pratchat88 * Liz will be back next month!

I hate the weasel phrase “going away”. No feature or service “goes away” - it doesn’t have legs and a will of its own. Its owner is removing, cancelling or discontinuing it. Use a verb; take responsibility. Don’t pretend you’re helplessly subject to the whim of an inanimate object or concept.

“We realise this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems” is a wild way to start a sentence about a system that encouraged young people to hide suicidal thoughts from their loved ones. Surely “make the friend you want” is likely to have worse outcomes?

Golden hour in our narrative adventure Little Ruin. #indiedev #gameart #indiegames #madewithunity

Australians, please raid your Uncle's old PC in his shed, and help me find a copy of this to archive. #Australia #AFL #DOSGaming #Wolfenstein #RetroGaming #MSDOS #RetroComputing

Great list! Some more excellent Australian artists on Bandcamp: davidbridie.bandcamp.com allindiaradio.bandcamp.com jefflang.bandcamp.com jakflute.bandcamp.com davegraney1.bandcamp.com davesteel.bandcamp.com mickthomas.bandcamp.com notdrowningwaving.bandcamp.com desmonddoom.bandcamp.com #AusMusic

On #BandcampFriday, Bandcamp waives its cut; the artists get more of your money. It ends 5 PM AEST. Australian artists on Bandcamp include: geraldinequinn.bandcamp.com georgiafields.bandcamp.com 3pod.bandcamp.com thetwoks.bandcamp.com pickup.bandcamp.com judeperl.bandcamp.com tomcardy.bandcamp.com

💛 TRACES OF PLAY 💛 is a participatory installation that celebrates the folk, playground, and street games we used to play. Created with @chadtoprak.bsky.social, come subvert these humble everyday objects into magnificent playthings of joy! 🪨🥜🥄✏️🪢

And here we go! Shadow of the Weird Wizard is available on Bundle of Holding! If you've been waiting to check it out, now's your chance! bundleofholding.com/presents/Wei...

I enjoy subtle, metaphorical, deep art. But sometimes I also like a banger which just straight up says a thing out loud. youtu.be/GOQFWGiJqWI Jeangu’s been on my radar since his Eurovision entry from a few years back, “Birth of a New Age”. Nice to see he’s still kicking it!

If you don’t know @horrornonna.com, she is one of the best horror film critics and academics out there. But film criticism, even the really good stuff, doesn’t pay enough to fight the aged care business machine. Please help out Alex if you can!

Comic nerd friends (so @patrickoduffy.bsky.social and @alkennedy.bsky.social), my other comic nerd friend Adam Ford is currently crowdfunding a book of poems inspired by Rom Space Knight. Adam’s a great poet, a massive Rom fan and a real good egg! Give it a look and maybe spread the word?

New #RPG thing from me - my first dungeon! A collaboration with amazing artist Brendan Barnett, “Flee the Flying Saucer!” is a light-hearted A3 “dungeon” in which your characters try to escape a UFO. An entry in the 1-Page TOONgeon Jam inspired by @itsquinns.bsky.social #PlayToFindOut podcast.