Prophet Margin is a pagan trading game where you build cities, weave trade routes and try to give each god the right tribute! store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/... #TeaseYaGame

Forbidden Solitaire - coming soon to a PC near you... bsky.app/profile/grey... #TeaseYaGame

I helped playtest this and I kept wanting to play!

Hey #TeaseYaGame, Mr. Magpie's Harmless Card Game is a surreal blend of Minesweeper, Blackjack and Balatro, hosted by your friendly neighborhood murder-puppet. Playtest on steam! store.steampowered.com/app/3616280/...

Prophet Margin is a pagan trading game where you build cities, weave trade routes and try to give each god the right tribute! store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/... #TeaseYaGame

Do you like solitaire and retro horror vibes? This game is pretty fun. It's solitaire with on rails dungeon crawling and strategy combined with solitaire and story. It was very fun. store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/... #steam #nextfest

TL;DR Unity -> Godot transition: after 13 years in unity, it took me 4-6 weeks of getting adjusted, and now i’ll never go back. it has quirks, like other engines. there’s bugs. but it’s free, basically equally capable, and well reported issues get fixed quicker than in unity (sometimes within hours)

for puzzle-likers following me (there’s got to be a bunch of you), I’ve really been enjoying The Daily Spell. little word jumbles with fun worldbuilding behind it (which recalling can help you out). there’s an archive; I would pay Money Dollars for more of these now that I’ve burned through most

Announcement: STEAM DEMO OUT NOW! The early dungeons of Forbidden Solitaire are now open to those bold - or foolish - enough to explore them. How badly do you wish to live forever? 👁️🩸 👇👇👇 store.steampowered.com/app/3414580/... Please wishlist and share - thank you! #indiedev

SAD GOD for the Steam god: store.steampowered.com/app/4201580/...

i kinda hate how the death of IRC slashed off a bunch of my online social bubble (i moved to discord after a bunch of my regular irc channels were abandoned by everyone else, then they also abnadoned the discord server that was supposed to be the replacement...)

Thanks to @dgrey.bsky.social for being the first (and almost only 😅) tester before I put this up online! I really like how its coming along, if I may say so myself. I wish I had the game design/code chops to do this when I was making Cardinal Quest 15 years ago!

Here's my weirdo way of doing html4 (not 5!) roguelike rendering (<span>s in a <pre>, oh my!). It actualy works! Didn't test it on IE6 though.

Your were not joking, it's indeed a bunch of spans! Would you mind sharing more about it? I find it amazing you've done all this like that instead of using a canvas :D

I've been working on a new coffeebreak roguelike for a little while and figured it's time to share it: stellarcartography.itch.io/gasp Don't run out of air! Get to the goal in level 12 to win.

I've been working on a new coffeebreak roguelike for a little while and figured it's time to share it: stellarcartography.itch.io/gasp Don't run out of air! Get to the goal in level 12 to win.

Titanium Court is also amazing IMO, what a goddamn delight of a game, the kind where describing it to a friend makes it sound like you are a crazy person, you should wishlist it / pick it up once it’s out. store.steampowered.com/app/2364580/...

I've been running an indie games studio for 15 years now, and it felt like a good time to boil down what I've learned into 4 pieces of advice: www.pentadact.com/2026-01-08-1... I hope it's of use, not least because goddamn I forgot how long blog posts take to write.

friends! acquaintances! help! i'm looking to hire a game designer (living in the Netherlands) to help build games in The Hidden Folks Universe, starting with a sequel to the indie hit game Hidden Folks. know someone who's a good fit? pls forward this, ty! hiddenfolks.com/job-opening/...

Devastating that we're even having to waste time to "prove" to sections of the "left" (UK/US "left" let's be honest) that it's the right thing to do to support these protests. Thanks @freedompress.bsky.social for doing the heavy lifting here. 🖤 freedomnews.org.uk/2026/01/05/i...

The wild, intense rise and fall of Flappy Bird

The Polaris List is out! Top 100 most personally influential games as listed by senior game designers. Fascinating trove that is at the root of most modern game designs. What inspires us and why? Spoiler: It ain't all Call of Duty polarisgamedesign.com/the-polaris-...

I’m planning a column about women and games next year. I want to discuss how stories about women are told/received in games, and how does womens’ criticism exist- where/what is it? If you are a woman game writer/dev/critic and would like to share your thoughts, dm or email [email protected] !

The Steam Winter sale is almost over! ❄️25% off The Crimson Diamond!❄️ It's a cozy retro-styled text parser mystery adventure game set in Canada! If you're curious about text parser games, I tried to make this one approachable (tutorial and hintbook included!)!⌨️ store.steampowered.com/app/1098770/...

Coral planet 🪸

Hot(?) programming take: i like "procedural with types" much better than OO or functional style. I think at least for my scale the latter just feel fancy but doesn't actually give me much benefit. What is procedural with types? This style:

When did iOS autocorrect got so bad? I distinctly remember it not making as many mistakes 10 years ago (It just corrected “dish washer” to “fish washer”)…

Reposting for the evening crowd. Mark and I discuss innovation in roguelikes. 7DRLs feature heavily, but we also cover how to include various approaches to new twists in big games without alienating established players.

GOOD NEWS! Researchers have shown Alzheimer’s disease can be REVERSED- not just prevented. Using a potent neuroprotective compound called P7C3-A20, they found RESTORING balance to a central cellular energy molecule (NAD+) not only PREVENTED disease features but REVERSED them, EVEN at late stages.

The secret to networking in video games is to meet lots of peers at a similar stage in their careers. Identify one who's really talented; you must then kill them and bury their heart under a crossroad. A thing wearing their face will contact you in 7 days and offer to elevate you, at a price.

These two images of Chinese train driver Han Junjia were taken less than 30 years apart. Transformative change is possible when it is relentlessly pursued.

After porting my old (c. 2008) game Crypt Rover to the web a little while ago I've decided to start working on a "spiritual successor": Gasp! stellarcartography.itch.io/gasp It's still early and much is left to do but I'm having a blast in the meanwhile.

I'm a fan of game designers leaning into their personal taste. One way to do that is to write a Taste Manifesto. I wrote about mine here, and why you should write yours! open.substack.com/pub/ezraszan...

rift riff is game of the day in the US! cool cool cool cool cool apps.apple.com/us/story/id1...

Here’s a tip for graphic designers: if you include the “weakest” option in your pitch the client will choose it 9 times out of 10. If you include something you hate they will choose that option. They can’t help themselves. They don’t do it consciously but they’ll do it

Next year we'll announce our new game 4 years in the making! While you're waiting, here's a first little preview of what's to come 🤜💥 Get ready for a story-driven action-adventure game in an open-environment, with non-stop drama and goofiness. 🎢 See you in 2026 with @arteinteractive.bsky.social !

Some new content from Prophet Margin in this video! youtu.be/GKCIyIHzptE Wishlist at store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/...

Some new content from Prophet Margin in this video! youtu.be/GKCIyIHzptE Wishlist at store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/...

The moment you have all(?) been waiting for is finally here! I've made an html5 version of my 2008 classic "CryptRover" (first game I ever released!) and it's up on itch: stellarcartography.itch.io/crypt-rover Go! Rove that crypt! Punch some aracnids! Don't run out of air or battery!

The Abbess Garden has an official release date! The game will be available on Steam on March 2! :) New trailer to celebrate ^^ www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrpj... Other announcement, we have partnered with @join-indie-io.bsky.social! They'll help us with QA & marketing :) #indiegame #cozygame

If I had known the two paragraphs about genAI in my article today would be so controversial, I would have expanded them a bit! Here's a rough transcript of the relevant portion of my interview with Swen Vincke, so everyone has all the context. (Full article here: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...)

larians recruitment process features prominently in this:

Q. Do you think most players of indie games know that most indie games flop and that's why long term support isn't possible? Or do you think lots of people only know about indie hits and somehow think all indie games make loads of money?

This game looks cute and Ido is a luminary in the roguelike dev community!

The Gods hunger for tribute! Build settlements and weave trade routes, feed temples and earn divine boons in Prophet Margin store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/... #TeaseYaGame

Prophet Margin is _such_ a good name for a game and this looks cool.

The Gods hunger for tribute! Build settlements and weave trade routes, feed temples and earn divine boons in Prophet Margin store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/... #TeaseYaGame

A charming #Egyptian figurine of a hedgehog, made of faience, dating ca 1900 BC, from Thebes, #Egypt. The Egyptians associated hedgehogs with rebirth. On display at Neues Museum Berlin 📷 me 🏺

So, “Order of the Sinking Star” by Thekla was just announced, which takes several small free games (two of which are mine) and gives them a major graphical upgrade and mashes up their rulesets. I haven’t been very involved but it’s a great concept and looks cool.