the gamedev timeline is getting dark, vibes are bad, we don't need to discourse like this on a friday, we're going to start getting angry about yellow paint and difficulty sliders again at this rate

I ordered a "large taquito" from a local place for lunch and in theory "large taquito" should just be a "taco" but instead it's giving "small boulder the size of a large boulder" energy.

Last night I watched a streamer in Arc that downed other players and then had them answer trivia questions in exchange for a revive. The questions were like "who runs this whole operation" and "what's the name of the cataclysmic event that led to all this" and lol no, gamers do not pay attention.

happy brunch day

Again, to every videogame writer who wrote funny emails to read in an immersive sim/etc. where I rolled my eyes and said out loud, "lol like anyone would ever email something this on the nose", again, sorry, I was wrong, life sucks, you nailed it

dnd update: we are almost at the end of the campaign and tonight I watched them have a full emotional breakdown as they finally realized they were, in fact, bad people and were heading straight into a full villain arc

"babies are born worshipping unknown gods" is one of the most incredible dwarf fortress bugs i have heard of. its poetry.

I continue to believe very strongly that a person's reaction to generative AI is directly correlated to whether it presents any existential risks to your craft. This is why senior engineers and CEOs are so psyched about it, and artists and writers are rallying against it.

Playing Arc Raiders in an attempt to understand what people like about these games. I casually teamed up with 5 other solo players. We made our way to the top of a huge tower, defending and healing each other, sharing loot along the way. I then watched 4 of the 5 die falling off of a ladder.

Two more weeks to apply to our microgrants program! We've received a few applications already (wooo!) but there is room left, so shoot your shot! Head over to blog.iftechfoundation.org/2025-10-12-2..., and ask us any lingering questions - we want to hear from you!

please go buy my friend's game, thanks in advance

I said I wish more devs would blog about their thoughts on game design and the monkey's claw curls again

Something with a large jaw took a bite and left the rest. Based on all the available evidence I have concluded it was a giraffe.

on my 46th game I've judged for IGF this year, I have only just come across the first reference to cannibalism, it used to take like five tops, the state of indie games is truly dire

shoutouts to toby fox for just doing this when a platform tells him he HAS to add achievements to his games

A week ago a squirrel stole someone's chocolate and oat granola bar and crawled onto my second floor windowsill to enjoy it's ill-gotten loot. I accidentally scared it away and it fled, leaving behind that granola bar. It is still there. Just sharing because it's very exciting.

new GTA6 release date

I willed this nightmare into existence, you're welcome

man I dunno this is just off the top of my head, probably missed some things

NEW: After my last piece about what's slowing down game development, folks wrote in to ask "why didn't you talk about bad leadership?" It uhhhh never came up. So I returned to the well and asked devs to explain why better leadership—not AI or any other tool—is vital to efficient game development.

i owe so many video game designers an apology

It will always be funny to me that despite being the design director I cannot use my company credit card attached to the design department budget to buy steam games for research because steam does not allow a Canadian to use a US card, so I have to ask the lead designer to buy me, their boss, games.

TFW u open BlueSky and a bunch of ppl are vaguely posting about the same shit

I need to learn how to make these (sotteok sotteok) because they are delicious. I say that as a connoisseur of the hot dog + carb culinary tradition.

Exciting things are happening on my street. My neighbour has put up an inflatable pumpkin in their backyard that appears to be larger than their house.

powerwash simulator devs know what the gamers want: walls, floors, ceilings, and as a treat some curved surfaces and tiny rusty bits

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works and let me know if you have any questions! 🤗

Today I dropped part 1 of a much longer thesis I have on the existential crisis facing Game AI, and how we reached this point in the industry. It's been nagging at me for months and I needed to start writing it out both to give it shape, and to let it out because I think we need to talk about it.

been feeling this all year except instead of “take” it’s “industry news”

I am looking for a game company or someone who is interested in games research to make a contribution to my research lab because: we need money. If that’s you please DM me.

last day to get Time Bandit for 50% off on steam! store.steampowered.com/app/1481910/... bsky.app/profile/phoe...

i can't believe they have to play again today.

This game is fantastic. Series of short horror games with the same art, overarching story, dark yet comedic tone, and yet from different creators. Highly recommend it for a spooky play this season.

The Seance of Blake Manor is now live on Steam. Check out our launch trailer! 💀 store.steampowered.com/app/1395520/... #indiegames

one of my new year's resolutions is going to be to increase my spice tolerance because "mild" is too spicy for me now and such an extreme loss of my heat tolerance is giving me psychological damage

Made some banana bread today (with rum, coconut, and lime icing). Freezer’s going to be packed.

If you want cons to be smaller, cheaper, more accessible, and less corporate- consider checking out @roguelike.club this weekend, maybe even buying a ticket! Even if proc gen isn’t your fav, I think it can be inspiring to see this type of event in action, and we can only keep doing it with support ❤️

The only comment I will make on that stupid genAI 'gameplay' footage is that I could write an essay on the choice they made to make it a choice-based cinematic military sim.

the key to game design is to imagine the target audience for your game and then imagine how you would make them the most upset

extremely pleased that our d&d group chat is also our powerwash simulator 2 chat

I have a short story I want to tell, just bear with me a moment. In the last ever E3, I was with a team from Ubisoft demoing our game. It was the culmination of four years (so far) of development, people were psyched. There might've been about forty of us running demos for press in our closed area

Today I learned a new term: "chicken bit" as a fancy term for feature flags, called that because apparently you can set it to 0 if you chicken-out. Language is a beautiful thing.

There’s nothing quite like writing an important email to someone whose English fluency is imperfect to make you look at your own writing and ask, “why do I structure my sentences like this? what is wrong with me?” I am becoming hyper aware that I’ve started skipping subjects or verbs in sentences.

A while back I realized much of what I micro blogged was just me processing stuff out loud, & not in a way that had any benefit for myself or the topic. Often it could just be me articulating my most negative thoughts & foisting them on others! So I had a witch shrink me & now I live in a dollhouse.

It's that time of year... 🍂 🎃 The Ghost Town Pumpkin Festival is BACK for 2025! 🎃 This year we can support up to 800 players at once in this seasonal pumpkin carving MMO! This year's update comes with new areas and new secrets to find. Hope you don't mind if I re-use the trailer from last year! 😅

Our microgrants program is back for a third year! This year again, IFTF is looking to disburse $3,000 to cool projects related to interactive fiction that could benefit from a little bit of cash. More details on our blog post!

new GTA6 release date

I am playing Baby Steps and I have a lot of thoughts. I like that you play the kind of gamer that never plays the tutorial. I like the surreal narrative interludes that act as rewards for discovery. I like how the sound of squishy mud is enough to spike my anxiety.

For tonight’s family movie night I picked The Substance.