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.

new Prophet Margin footage now on the Deutsche Indie Showcase! youtu.be/XGj1ivg_FCc?... Wishlist at store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/...

holy moly, ok! we did it?? we made a collection??? it's the first 13 games, bundled up with unlockable dev notes, updated audio, some sneaky bug fixes, cloud saves, and Steam Deck support!! store.steampowered.com/app/4044300/...

A surprise relating to Prophet Margin on @gronkh.blue 's youtube channel tonight! store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/...

Ok, it's *LAUNCH* day and this one is extra special for me: It is Adam's collection of 8-bit games that he has been making in PICO-8 over the last 12+ months. The first was done in his free time for fun... and then he made another. And another. And another... store.steampowered.com/app/4044300/...

"True, honest, earnest, fearless, curiosity-driven reporting and criticism of video games can be valuable. The highest quality execution of such work largely costs money to produce. Reporters gotta eat. Critics (most of them) need to wear clothes."

"Oh sure, let me instantly generate every storefront image at once" is something no game developer ever said... until I added this feature to Kenney Game Assets All-in-1! 🎉 (Coming later this month!)

valve: the horse game contains problematic elements so we won't sell it also valve, literally right now on their front page: hey you can preorder this amazing new game where you sneak into women's houses to photograph them for online creeps

this post is so funny to me because it reminds me how much of us arty indie game types basically have always existed in a parallel ecosystem that never reached the gamer masses 98% of the time and basically doesn't have anything to do with them

Any opinions about steam limited play tests? I'm thinking of pretty soon doing one for Prophet Margin (store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/...) and I'm not sure what are the pros/cons vs doing it as a demo? #indiedev

Can't wait to try this! Thanks for the heads-up! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3624110 #gamedev #indiedev #steamdemo #freetoplay #newgame

Our upcoming game HORSES was preemptively banned from Steam, with no path to appeal. The game will still launch next week on December 2nd and will be available on EGS, GOG, Humble, and Itch for $4.99. Here is a detailed FAQ covering what happened: horses.wtf/BannedFromSt...

Any opinions about steam limited play tests? I'm thinking of pretty soon doing one for Prophet Margin (store.steampowered.com/app/3624110/...) and I'm not sure what are the pros/cons vs doing it as a demo? #indiedev

Huge Update for Mr. Magpie! Big new art, a ton of new perks, a Theology Department, and a million other improvements. store.steampowered.com/app/3616280/...

*taps the sign* Mark yer 2026 calenders, Berlin game-dev folks. You've been informed. No excuses. 😙 @berlingamescene.bsky.social

Had a great time announcing Prophet Margin at Games Ground '25! store.steampowered.com/news/app/362...

Had a great time announcing Prophet Margin at Games Ground '25! store.steampowered.com/news/app/362...

Can't wait to try this! Thanks for the heads-up! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3624110 #gamedev #indiedev #steamdemo #freetoplay #newgame

Foundational figure in PC games. One of those load-bearing creatives where things would look very different for entire genres if she wasn’t around. Please help her out

work with pol, I recommend it! Artistic and technical. Pol is the reason NUTS looks the way it does.