Chapter 3 is coming together! Added inventory and skill icons, finished art for protagonist #3. Game is aaaaalmost ~25% playable

At the end of the term I asked my college creative wriing students to submit anonymous thoughts on AI. No real surprises: Mood ranges from resignation to despair, capitulation from embittered erosion of standards to total, feelings of betrayal from deep to furious. 1/

i have hijacked the vextro brand and i'm using it to spread evil rpg propaganda. please enjoy the first issue (hopefully of multiple) of our evil one-page rpg videogame bulletin, featuring 4 evil microreviews and an evil 500-word feature vextro.itch.io/darkworld

Obscurity is a curation problem. kastelpls.itch.io/obscurity-is... A manifesto on why obscurity is a feature, not a bug, of the discoverability crisis. Obscurity is symptom of the failure to curate. For the Manifesto Jam 2026.

ugh oh no something on the internet resonated with me hard enough that i posted an emotionally charged thread on social media... again!

SAY IT LOUDER

if you have any posts you like on the rpg maker forums, save/archive them before dec 11 2026 because the forum is closing & there will be NO official public archive en link: forums.rpgmakerweb.com/forums/impor... jp link: forum.tkool.jp/index.php?fo...

Motor Oil and Sword progress! Chapters 1 and 2 are playable, Chapter 1 is almost at a "vertical slice" level of polish. Spent most of this month working on music.

Just released a new game, significantly expanded and refined from a jam game I made on May 8. Unlike most of my platformers, this is not a puzzle game at all and kinda technically demanding. I hope it's fun. Free at @itch.io for Windows and macOS. #gamedev #gamemaker jdmgames.itch.io/the-flappers

now's a great time to make a game... if not, don't worry, this runs into next weekend too :)

Absolutely insane numbers on data center buildout. I haven’t vetted these by they’re about right based on memory/back of the envelope.

Facets is cool, Cookie Cutter is cool, John's thoughts on small games are cool, this was a great interview!

If someone pooped in your computer that's a deuce ex machina.

new tool: 🐈 plano a small in-browser engine for creating your own flatgames. add images, gifs, and text to make a little collage-like world for a character to walk around in play on itch

Calling all queer creators on itchio! The #PowerOfPride2026 Bundle is now open for submissions! Digital games, physical games, books, zines, comics, assets & tools— we're accepting them all! NSFW OK! We want to work with you to share your projects. itch.io/jam/power-of... Tell your friends too!

It's an open world game where you recruit characters to overcome roadblocks you encounter at the start of the game and... haha oh no woops I just remade Digimon World AGAIN

1. Horrifying ruling out of the 4th Circuit. An all-Republican 4th Circuit panel has just ruled that states can compel trans adults to "appreciate their sex" by enacting care bans. It even directly says that trans adult care bans are legal in the ruling. Subscribe to support our journalism.

New blog update! -I talk a little about Villain Sword II -I talk A LOT about Motor Oil and Sword (working title) -I made a lot of fun little changes throughout the site alexandrah.neocities.org/blog/posts/2...

The submission deadline for @farawaytimes.bsky.social's Cookie Cutter RM2K3 Jam has closed, meaning I can finally announce... DUNGEONFEST! A two-day streaming event where I'll play as many entries as I can from the FIFTY-SEVEN submissions! SAT 7TH 12:00 GMT SUN 8TH 12:00 GMT twitch.tv/jdubdotexe

they saw someone post this and were like "oooooooh we should get one of those"

me: "AI" as a public or public-facing technology is primarily oriented toward the performance of plausibility and the post hoc rationalization/justification of a priori assumptions on the part of the user or audience. cs people: nuh uh!!!

Slowly making my way through Cookie Cutter jam entries. Keep it Aubergine is *hilarious* - I don't remember the last time a game made me laugh this much bjorknfork.itch.io/keep-it-aube...

New game! Villain Sword II: Ash Returns. Created for the RM2k3 Cookie Cutter Jam. itch.io/jam/cookie-c...

It seems all Kansas-issued trans drivers' licenses are invalid, effective tomorrow It is now illegal for trans people to drive a car until they surrender their license at a DMV (that most will need to drive to) and have it reissued with the wrong gender marker This was never about woman's sports

Had a blast with @alexandrah.bsky.social's Jailbird Nocturne! Great writing and crunchy fights and a wonderful hand-crafted style, there's just tons to love here alchiggins.itch.io/jailbird-noc...

The Queer Games Bundle is officially disbanding. There will not be another bundle this year. Thank you for your support over the years. Please continue to help each other. A community can only exist if it helps each other survive in a meaningful way. Read our final statements here:

LRT, so many good quotes: "I don't think [gen AI is] simply bad optics but an attack on how we make art in creative communities together."

LLM Slop Will Make Us Antisocial - Ruminations on IFComp 2025 mimidoshima.neocities.org/main/posts/2... i wrote about recent events in the interactive fiction community and how it emboldened me to fight against vibe coders and LLM slop.

Oops I'm running a game jam! Make an RPG using pre-made maps; figure out how to give it your own spin without changing any of the tiles. Feel free to join in on the fun! itch.io/jam/cookie-c...

Bing has blocked neocities and all user subdomains from its search index. We’ve spent months trying to resolve this through official channels and gotten nowhere. Until this gets resolved, we are recommending that people do not use Bing. Blog post with details: blog.neocities.org/blog/2026/01...

The 2025 Vextro anthology is out, and it's more lo-fi than ever! Check out "Vextro Unplugged" on an itch page near you, including entries by me, nilson, sunday, and wasnotwhynot! itch.io/c/6893661/ve...

And while I'm recommending stuff - my friend Lynn released her second book recently! Bones of the Voyager is great! Strong character writing with some really lovely artwork

Just read this one; it's excellent!

New blog posts! One thing lead to another, and before I knew it, I had somehow ranked and reviewed every RPG I ever played (except for about 20 DNFs I didn't feel comfortable judging). That was 84 games! I broke up the list into 3 parts, but here's part 1: alexandrah.neocities.org/blog/posts/2...

Very good blog post from thecatamites about trends in "game-iness" in games over the past 15 years: harmonyzone.org/blog/posts/g...

Just added the final point of interests to chapter 1, meaning it's almost playable from start to finish! I also wrote the battle music and implemented the first boss (secret for now)

did 2025 feel like it defeated you? well now it's time for YOU to defeat 2025!!! www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=153... #pico8 #indiegames

socksmakepeoplesexy.net/sockscast/in... The time has arrived! The games have been chosen and all that's left now is to start the listing! Sockscast Game of the Year 2025 Day One is here, and today we count down our favorite games 10 through 6 and dig into our HUGE pile of listener lists!

Just now, a national trans healthcare felony ban for youth has passed the US House, with 10 year prison terms. 3 Dems crossed party lines to vote to jail providers. 4 GOP crossed party lines to vote against. It is not expected to pass the Senate, where Dems hold filibuster power. Story to come.

Ken Griffy Jr's tower is horrible, can confirm

I do wanna reiterate as I share these sortsa articles that I am looking forward to playing E33 and that it isn't the game's fault that its being pedestalled as "the next step in turn-based RPGs," or (shudders) "the next step in indie games." BUT! These trends are discomforting!

Nice essay echoing some thoughts I've had about E33's cultural reception. I've always thought it has this its air of respectability comes from evoking modern television aesthetics, so it's "not nerdy" to enjoy it (vs. Something like trails or rpgmaker games which have just as interesting stories)

Screenshot dump! Chugging away at art assets and system design. Here's what Motor Oil and Sword's battle system looks like

Drew movement sprites for the first of the protagonists! So you can now go zippy zip zip!

A brief defence of dialogue choices (286 words):

I released Jailbird Nocturne just over a year ago! So I wrote a 30 page retrospective on just about anything about it I could think of - design, characters, narrative, themes, production, scale, reception, etc. Hopefully you find something in there of interest!

I made a GRAPHIC NOVEL with @madjesters1.bsky.social! BONES OF THE VOYAGER follows Nina, an indie director dealing with problems on set and her depression—which is embodied by a sarcastic skeleton named Vincenzo Get it on Amazon: bit.ly/4pkcVfV #BookSky #IndieBooks #IndieAuthors #WritingCommunity

They've lost the 9yos