🦊 “Artificial intelligence isn’t going anywhere. It’s the future.” I hear that line a lot. The thing is, futures are tricky. ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/the-li...

With the passing of Rebecca Heineman today, I wanted to share some images from her last, now forever unfinished project. She was working on amazing stuff right up until the end. It was Dragon Wars remastered. Jennell Jaquays was art directing.

Huge influence on me.

What a great post about community, the people, the narcissists, governance, funding, overtakes, political backwaters, change, loss, and feeling lost. okayfail.com/2025/in-prai...

Murderworld is now available! A text adventure where you play as the 1989 lineup of the X-Men as they fight to win back their weekend. It's got several playable characters over the course of multiple hours-worth of grand adventure and superhero drama. patientrock.itch.io/murderworld 🦹🏼‍♀️

VN-like Twine template progress: more UI tweaks + hover over a sprite to bring it into the foreground #screenshotsaturday #gamedev #indiedev art by @saltycryptid.bsky.social

You can grab Station Zeta right now in the Steam Autumn Sale for less than the price of a tariff-adjusted cup of coffee. Run, jump, and puzzle your way through the worst station in space today! store.steampowered.com/app/2950320/...

Crab Crawl is always inexpensive but its even cheaper right now. How about a game that you can finish on a weeknight? Is cheerful? Has got great music? Steam Deck friendly? Play as a crab! 🦀 s.team/a/3254550

I've entered a game into IFComp for the first time! It's a text adventure called Murderworld and it's about the X-Men. (Though, you don't need to know anything about the characters to play.) Superhero drama, action, and above all: teamwork!

The IRS wants Americans to weigh in on Direct File, the agency's free tax filing program. We already know Direct File has been widely popular and successful. The program could save Americans billions annually between filing fees and time costs. www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs...

Station Zeta is still half off for just a bit longer 🔹 Save the crew, though they don't deserve it! 🔹 Shoot some robots and question whether they deserve it! 🔹 Push some crates knowing full well they totally deserve it! #indiegame #thinkygame #indiedev store.steampowered.com/app/2950320/...

Less than 24 hours left to grab Camp Keepalive: Endless Summer during our Steam launch sale! Don't miss your chance to grab the perfect game for beating back the mid-summer blues at a 15% launch discount! #indiegame #turnbased #indiedev store.steampowered.com/app/3637630/...

Hey folks - I am super excited to announce Camp Keepalive: Endless Summer has a release date - July 14th! What better way to spend the height of summer (or winter, hemisphere-dependent) than by diving into the deep, dark forest and keeping terrible monsters at bay! #indiedev #indiegame #turnbased

Chris and I have even more Twine Cookbook postcards. If you are at @narrascope.org and want one, please talk to me or @chrisklimas.com. (I'll also be at @eliterature.bsky.social in a few weeks with some.)

A message from IFTF's president about this year's event (don't panic!):

Today is the last day for in-person registration for NarraScope. (Registration for remote attendance is open until June 18th.) narrascope.org

The comment period for this ends in 3 DAYS. Please leave a comment telling them EVERYONE should be able to get covid boosters. www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

As part of the ongoing job hunt, I set up a software portfolio page: zarfhome.com/portfolio/

Great news for your weekend: the demo for Camp Keepalive: Endless Summer is now live on Steam! Get a head start on your summer and save some campers today! #indiegame #indiedev #demo #gaming store.steampowered.com/app/3637630/...

On Saturday, June 7 I'll be at Indie Game Fest at the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore showing off my game, Crab Crawl! Cool lineup of speakers, great indie games to play, and more: calendar.prattlibrary.org/event/indie_... 🦀

For anyone in the Maryland area, we'll be at the Enoch Pratt Library Indie Game Fest this upcoming June 7th showing both Station Zeta and the first public demo of Camp Keepalive: Endless Summer. Stop by and see us, along with a ton of other amazing indie devs! #indiegame #indiedev

my new Twine template is looking tastier

Does the box have feelies? No. Does the box even exist? Of course not - it's digital. Should you wishlist it today anyway? Absolutely - you don't want to miss out on this year's one and only camp-based horror strategy game, do you? #indiegame #indiedev store.steampowered.com/app/3637630/...

Mr. Abrego Garcia was illegally abducted by the Trump Admin and, by their own admission, wrongly deported to El Salvador. He shouldn’t have to spend another second away from his family. I'm flying to El Salvador tomorrow morning to check on his condition and discuss his return.

You might have missed it, but it's not all bad news this week - Camp Keepalive: Endless Summer is coming soon, and you can wishlist it right now on Steam! #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #strategygame #turnbased store.steampowered.com/app/3637630/...

This year's Spring Thing Festival of Interactive Fiction is open for judging. There are 34 new games entered this year, a mix of choice, parser and more. All entries are well worth checking out. The festival runs until 9th May. www.springthing.net/2025/play.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cory Booker breaks the record for longest Senate speech, previously held by segregationist Strom Thurmond.

A reminder for this Transgender Day of Visibility: Trans people have always existed, and we always will.  No president, politician, or court can change that.

ROSEWATER IS OUT! A Wild West adventure about friendship, storytelling, and found family. It's been a journey making this game. I sincerely hope you enjoy it. 🤠🌵 Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1226670/... GOG: www.gog.com/en/game/rose...

A longer look at some of the early gameplay in Camp Keepalive: Endless Summer. It's a peaceful night at the lake until it very much isn't. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZJS... #indiedev #indiegame #gamedev

It's Spring, and Station Zeta is on sale for its lowest price ever! Why not greet the season with some puzzle-platformer fun? Because remember, in space, no one can hear you come in like a lion or leave like a lamb - that's just science! store.steampowered.com/app/2950320/... #indiegame #indiedev

This is what happens when 18F goes away: beta.weather.gov has been deactivated, “due to the loss of critical federal staff, which leaves this project without the resources to continue its development or for routine monitoring and maintenance.” 18f.org/projects/#:~...

I wrote a feature for @eurogamer.bsky.social about my experience at the Disco Elysium LARP, 97 Poets of Revachol! www.eurogamer.net/surviving-a-...

former colleagues from 18F have asked me to share this open letter widely - please pass on 🙏 🇺🇸 💻💪 18f.org

NEW: Senator Marshall (R-KS) RUNS AWAY, fleeing his own town hall after being asked about DOGE firing Veterans. MAKE HIM GO VIRAL.

It sure would be a shame if the Internet at large flooded this new Education Department portal with fraudulent/joke reports of "DEI" in schools so that the department can't figure out what's real and what's not. It would be very bad if people inclined to do that shared this widely. enddei.ed.gov

found this in my notes, good advice for aspiring devs

New: DOGE's spending has been secret. No longer. My colleagues have uncovered it. www.propublica.org/article/doge...

I've now released the generation code, origin text, bonus materials, and 10,000 newly generated copies of Subcutanean, my queer horror novel where each copy is unique (as I promised back in 2020 that I'd do five years after release). Details and links here: subcutanean.textories.com/source-relea...

🦊 Friday was my last day working at 18F. It was a team of extraordinary people, but a few things happened that made me realize I had to leave. Everything happens so much these days, so I thought I’d write down for myself what happened, and how I made my decision: ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/leavin...

Here's the paid ad that WaPo was set to run and then pulled under political pressure. I agree with this sentiment (see firemusk.org), so I'm gonna go ahead and post it here. NO ONE ELECTED ELON MUSK, who is operating illegally under a cloak of secrecy to destroy the government.

I'm between jobs and strapped for cash so I opened up a little shop on ko-fi, where you can find a huge Twine Grimoire TUTORIAL+DEV BUNDLE as well as a previously UNRELEASED GAME ‼️ 🪄 Grimoire resources are always free on itch, but donations help support my work. ko-fi.com/grimdev/shop

I have feelings about AI & the web & my experience being trans "in tech" in 2025 - so I screamed some thoughts onto my personal web log. I hope for all of us a more queer & humane future. Keep building communities & dreaming better paths. https://www.miriamsuzanne.com/2025/02/12/tech-ai-wtf/

Repeating my mantra again for the people in the back: The games people complain 'no longer exist' still exist they're just made by like, two-person indie teams with zero marketing budget. They're no longer being thrown right in front of your face, so you'll have to put in work to find them yourself

In case you were curious why #RosewaterGame has taken so long to develop: @jesshaskins.bsky.social built the game’s choice points in Twine…

This is where you go to tell the National Park Service to restore the word "transgender" in its entry on the Stonewall monument. (Scroll down.)

SCOOP: The US Treasury claimed a DOGE's Marco Elez didn’t have ‘write access,’ when he actually did. Sources tell WIRED that his ability to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded, days after officials said it didn't exist.

The men carrying out Musk's coup are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. Make them famous. And, eventually, when possible, arrest them and charge them with multiple felonies. www.wired.com/story/elon-m...

Okay, here’s the deal: RIGHT NOW is the time for concrete, direct action. If you’re following me, it’s probably because you care about trans art and trans literature. The article below lays out my suggestions for dozens of concrete actions you can take to preemptively combat literary censorship.