life is so short. tell people that you love them. be emotionally vulnerable. live by your truest principles. hug people. hold hands with not just your partner, but also your platonic soulmates. check in with the people you care about. our time on this earth is too brief to withhold affection.

It's 2026! Hope you had a relaxing holiday break! Our game THE SPIRIT LIFT launches on January 27!!! store.steampowered.com/app/1727590/... So I'll be posting more and we'll have new stuff over at @prettysmart.bsky.social too! (I find social media scary but I'll do my best!) #gamedev #indiegame

One of my favorite family owned restaurants closed. With all this technology that's supposed to keep us so connected, it's frustrating that there's no way I can find to send them a message, let them know how much we loved eating there and we wish them the best with what they do next.

Just in case anyone needs to hear it: The holidays are not always happy. It's okay to not be okay. If you're going through something, there will be better times ahead. You can find your purpose, your people, your version of joy. Just hang in there.

As we wind down on 2025, I thought I'd 'relax' soon, since our next game launches end of Jan. Then my team suggested something I cannot ignore. An idea for keeping our remote studio connected between games. So... I guess I'll be back to the design grind soon! #gamedev #indiedev #remotestudio

"they don't know how to express the idea" here's rian johnson's storyboard for knives out pick up a pencil and a napkin

Help your favorite gamedev this holiday season: - Send a supportive message! - Recommend their games to friends! - Wishlist and follow them on Steam! - Leave reviews! - Chat with other players on forums and Discord! - Ask your fave content creators to play their game! #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev

To +1 this, we researched every item in our latest game to make sure it was historically possible in our haunted hotel and build the fiction of who left it behind. Even if we had used genAI (we didn't) we would have still had to do the many hours of reading and double checking.

I still have a game to ship, but also how am I going to finish my 2025 horror movies round up?! Still to watch: Dust Bunny, Final Destination Bloodlines, Frankenstein, Sew Torn, Influencers, Grafted, Wolfman, The Long Walk... how did I miss so many?! #horror #horrormovies

Indies can be so hard on ourselves! I want to spend more time thinking about the incredible feats we've created and less on where I fell short. I'm doing like 27 different jobs to release this game and I'd never ask anyone else to do that! #indiegame #gamedev #weareonly6people

On the final pass of adding all narrative lore to our game. Last night LOREM IPSUM dominated my nightmares #gamedev #writing

You can tell a lot about a person based on how they feel about pivot tables. So thankful to our playtesters for filling out a brief form as they play, we are making huge improvements in our progression flows! I would love to make a video about this after launch! #gamedev #math #playtesting #data

This is how I binge watch Murder, She Wrote. Whenever I get the urge to watch, I check the current time. The hour becomes the season, the minute becomes the episode. If the minutes > episodes, I restart at one and count up. That's it. I have no idea if this is interesting! Carry on!

Our game comes out in less than two months! I'm working every day on the final touches, can't believe this is happening!

There's nothing like the live chat during a GDoC Expo. Give if you can, these incredible people are keeping the dream alive for so many talented teams!

my first trip to GDC was possible because of this scholarship. a truly wonderful group of people work hard to make this happen and to deliver a great experience for anyone who wins it. apply apply apply!! it can change your life!!

sorry i'm late but shop open! finally!!! all my new things have been added. you can find the duos and the judglings, and the usual goods. the free shipping should automatically apply if you meet the requirements! 🛒: q-iilin.myshopify.com

Classy tip for game devs: Sneak stupid gifs into tasks in your backlog to delight and horrify your teammates when they bubble to the surface #indiedev #gamedev

Hey, I'm in this article! Thanks for the opportunity to chat about roguelikes and roguelites!

We did something different with the credits for Demonschool. We used this format: name, title, lengthy description of what they did. Often you see credits in games where you don't know what the credited developer was actually responsible for. We wanted to give people proper, actual credit.

The lifecycle of a gardenia, as witnessed by me in my house 1. Gifted by a beloved aunt 2. After watching hours of tutorials, given its own windowsill, pebble tray, auto watering system 3. Infested with 1000s of baby spiders to be continued...

Is a horror villain clown still a clown if they are not trained in the arts of clowning around? 🤡 Or is that clown gatekeeping?!

What I'm going to remember the most about these last months before ship is not the tears or the 100s of tasks. It will be the laughter as we lost our minds, the stupid songs and dances and jokes we conjured to make THE SPIRIT LIFT the best game it could be. #gamedev #indiegame #laughsoyoudontcry

This looks like so much fun!

Button that reveals a handle for pulling down a keypad...........

It doesnt stop there. Did you know "zombies" are an African creation? Zombie comes from the Haitian creole "zanbi," which itself comes from the Kikongo word "nzambi" that translates to "spirit of a dead person.' It embodied the spirit of haitian slavery. Body is alive, the soul is not short🧵

One of best parts of making a horror game is every time we find a bug we get to yell THE GAME IS HAUNTED! Found a nasty hydra of issues last night but don't worry, slain enemies will no longer linger invisibly in future battles! 👻Literally haunting the place! #gamedev #horrorgames #indiegame

Watching my lead dev tell a friend about how someone changed the color of a font and the build broke and the friend says "now let me tell YOU my best a color change broke the game story" #gamedev

The artist Karepango was selling a dinosaur tote with the slogan "Happy is the New Rich" and every day I regret not buying it. That's the world I want to live in. (Check out their other work here, I don't know if they are on bsky karepango.com)

I think we all know who actually sculpted the snow miku 🎨 #art #yakuza

I'm going to remember this year in #horror movies as "great movies that made me gag and I have to recommend carefully" I'm talking about you two: The Ugly Stepsister and Match. Specifically.

Hi #PitchYaGame! Our ghostpunk roguelike deckbuilder set in a haunted hotel comes out Jan 27 2026! Come for the 90s nostalgia and teen drama, stay for the chance to throw a rice cooker at a clown or dynamite a spider horse! store.steampowered.com/app/1727590/... www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxTh...

History used to be my least favorite subject, now I find it soothing to listen to old documentaries or niche youtube channels that are at least attempting to spread real facts

It's astounding how much pressure we game developers put on ourselves. It's never enough to have made a game, or a good game, or a profitable game. You'll always see someone doing 'better' than you. And the only way to win THAT game is to not play. Make success about defeating your own best score!

LinkedIn/privacy news you can use.

Happy Halloween! Need some horror movie recs? The TV gone wrong trilogy: WNUF Ghostwatch Late Night with the Devil Good vibes, light scares: Fright Night, Night of the Reaper, Clown in a Cornfield, Deadstream More intense: Trick 'r Treat! In our house tonight: 12 hours of Scream marathon!!!

happy halloween

Best part of meeting up with our composer Ryako is watching all the weird gadgets she has for making our game SFX #gamedev #sounddesign #rotaryphones #therestisasecret

Our team is wrapping up on tasks, and every time I try to make it an event like when an actor celebrates their last day on set #gamedev

I really need more friends that are into: Love and Deepspace Dragula Horror movies and books in general say hi if you like any of these things

Do you know that our dev team loves horror? That’s why we’re thrilled to be part of this year’s @steampowered.com Scream IV! 👻🏨 THE SPIRIT LIFT is celebrating lots of news this month, thanks to everyone who is wishlisting, playing the demo, giving feedback, and spreading the word about our game!

Going to brunch is dangerous. Today there was a Halloween art fair outside and I emptied my wallet yet again for mystery stickers, a new rpg campaign, and a candle that smells of Christmas Past. #supportartists #oxfordcomma #didIdoitright

Boo! We have another unique trailer from the @dames4games.org showcase today! This trailer holds a puzzling clue to a demo secret. I wonder who will find it? 🔎 www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO5m... #gamedev #gametrailer #horrorgame #deckbuilder

👀👻🏨

Y'all my amazingly talented friend Miko's game is releasing soon!!! Wishlist on Steam now and be sure to check out the game in January!

I let ghosts haunt my attic to bring you the release date for THE SPIRIT LIFT, our ghostpunk roguelike deckbuilder! Check out the full trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxTh... Wishlist, play demo, tell friends! store.steampowered.com/app/1727590/... #gamedev #horror #indiegame #deckbuilder

When we started out making THE SPIRIT LIFT, I said "Let's make a roguelike deckbuilder because I know I can play those for 100s of hours and not get bored" THANKS PAST SELF! This part of the #gamedev process is so tedious and "hey at least this is fun" is the only thing keeping me afloat lol

So for-profit AI companies have trained on the world's largest collaborative volunteer project and a precious free resource, to make money for their for-profit enterprises. They have crushed traffic to the volunteer project, starving it of donors and volunteers www.404media.co/wikipedia-sa...

Sure, you've seen roguelike deckbuilders before, but have you seen one in a haunted hotel chock full of charming monsters, 90s nostalgia, grumpy wolf shopkeepers and puzzles? I think not! Wishlist, play demo, share! store.steampowered.com/app/1727590/... #wishlistwednesday #gamedev #indiegame

Wishlist and play 👻🏨 THE SPIRIT LIFT demo for @steampowered.com Next Fest! Now featuring new cards, creatures, and battles + updated UX. Catch an exclusive dev log on Steam to see the devs, Dale and @drmikachu.bsky.social, play the game and learn more about the secrets lurking in Vexington Hotel!