Hottest notes to self from my draft zero, so far: "Go Redwall on this shit" "NOPE" "What are you, asexual?" "This isn't extra enough. MAKE IT A MASQUERADE"

One issue generally overlooked in the whole screenwriter vs gamewriter, discussion is time. Beyond anything to do with training, ability, style etc is the amount of time screenwriters get to invest in a script. Whilst there are time pressures on any writer, the vast amounts of script that- 1/9

It only took several HUNDRED hours of playing Hunt: Showdown but I took out a whole party today. Made such a weird little victory screech that both my teammates laughed

New Fire Emblem announced AND it has a prettyboy edgelord in black armor; be prepared to lose all contact with me for about 3 full months in 2026

Developing anything: why does anyone do this to themselves!!! This endeavor is doomed!!! This will never work!!!! Seeing it in the build: 🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭🥹🥹🥹🥹💗💗💗💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💫

The tabletop freelancer survey closes on Monday, if you want to make sure IWGB has the info to fight for fair freelancer wages share it and fill it in now! forms.gle/efLP5CLxskse...

Beat all the Nightreign bosses so now I simply sit upon my lonely mountaintop, for there is nothing left to scale. ... Just kidding! Time to do it again on hardmode

Congratulations, Diablo devs!! ❤️

I have a (initially very obvious) belief that a game is not primarily the artifact of the game but the stories generated by people interacting with the game, & that a good measure of success is the notability (for lack of a better word*) of those stories both by impact & number of people affected

Stop doomscrolling. Enjoy this picture of Basil in front of the portrait @jannouna.bsky.social painted of him

“What’s a good name for the order” listen I don’t want to be world building right now, I just want my coffee

When Paizo unionized, I got a raise amounting to thousands of dollars. I also get a higher cost of living salary increase every year in addition to my seniority salary increase. I have incredible job security. I have advocates if I have grievances. Unionizing is hard and scary but so worth it.

If the AI bubble really is bursting, please take this lesson from it: Nothing marketed to you this relentlessly is ever worth it. If it was, they wouldn’t need to beg you.

Gamescom >:) #infinitynikki

Spent the first day of devcom #ddc2025 in all my favorite ways: -attending narrative talks -talking to students -teaching folks their labor rights and directing them to the games union for their country -recommending everyone play Ghost Trick

when you're new to making games, it's easy to think it's about making art and making the right decisions and having the best taste. but actually making games is about dancing really good when the old west bandit shoots bullets at your toes

Kurt Vonnegut’s definition of what makes something “art” is one of my favorites I’ve seen - from a letter to his brother in 1995.

So who's going to Devcom/Gamescom next week? 😄 I want to make sure I see everybody

The chess pieces I move may be heavy, but best believe it's because I'm playing a 4-dimensional game 😌

“Some of us aren’t creative enough to brainstorm without ChatGPT!” Well then maybe you should sit this one out.

Summer begins

COVER REVEAL 🥀 THE FLOWERS I DESERVE is an atmospheric and character-driven FFF gothic fantasy about guilt and worth. It's also about serving a tall demon lady. Illustration by @artofelaineho.bsky.social Typography by Cass at Opulent Designs Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

We're preparing for our Devcom panel in typical fashion Moderator: I'll have to decide how to organize these questions for the best flow Me: let me draw you a chart Co-panelists: found the narrative designer

This is the ultimate goal of AI - don't buy the claims that it's to help your efficiency. They want you gone. Source: mobilegamer.biz/laid-off-kin...

A Borges story about a guy who gets AI to summarize all the world’s information for him, and then summarize the summary, until the AI has the whole world summarized into a single word. He sits alone at his desk, staring at the word, repeating it endlessly, certain he is experiencing everything

You want to know how to get some job security in this volatile industry? This is how. This right here. When you're in a union, if you get laid off, your layoff is NEGOTIATED, not just dropped on you as a traumatic event you have zero control over.

Being sick is such bullshit. "It's me! Your body, fighting! It would help me if you drank lots of fluids, so I'll make you constantly nauseous. 👍And you need to sleep lots, which I'd why I'll make it impossible to breathe through your nose at night. 👍👍👍"

It's official. The SAG strike is finally over. It took an entire year but now VAs have the AI protections they sought. This is a huge victory. Do not let anyone who isn't in the industry tell you otherwise.

I love the weird skill curves that Dark Souls games unlock within you. Yeah I spent 20 hours getting my ass kicked by the first Nightreign boss, but today I suddenly woke up Enlightened, beat that boss, plus boss 2 on my first try. I will now get my ass kicked by boss 3 for 20 more hours.

The flower died and fell off

The first flower appeared on the tomato plants

Editing is part of this skillset as well. When you use an LLM to "help" you edit, you're using an algorithm designed to please you...to replace trading feedback with eclectic peers who have context-specific critical thinking skills and different preferences. The difference is obvious.

People outside the games industry don't grasp that this is absolutely unheard of. Workers don't get royalties, and we definitely don't get performance bonuses. When we make a hit game we sometimes just get laid off

We need to stop using press release language when covering this news: almost 2,000 people were fired to maximize shareholder profits. It’s not “right-sizing” it’s not “reducing headcount” it’s not a “departure” or “restructuring,” it’s using people’s livelihoods as currency.

It’s so easy to be an artist. You just do it. That, of course, is why it’s so hard to be an artist. You just have to do it. People despise how artistic courage highlights their own cowardice. Thus, crave the art, despise the artist. my random thoughts on it, better said by all the ppl in history

Every time I find a new flag in Expedition 33: Me: oh this was Expedition 56 My husband: more like Expedition Fucking Casuals

Little progress marker for me: on Monday a friend told me a story in German, and on Tuesday a friend taught me a card game in German, and I understood both. Certainly not perfectly, but this is such a far cry from the me of two and a half years ago, who'd never even really heard German before.

Ideal weekend adventures: -Drink a soda on a train -Listen to music on a train -Look out the window on a train -Take a nap on a train -Write on a train Train!! I LOVE YOU TRAIN

Another great Jorge Luis Borges story with surprisingly close parallels to narrative design is "The Lottery in Babylon." Borges, the bitch that you were. You would've loved Balatro.

NEW DEMO! I just published the demo for my current project, Set your Teeth at the Throat of the World. It's half solo journalling game, half deckbuilder, and even though it's a work in progress I think it's super cool. Please check it out and tell me what you think evelorien.itch.io/set-your-tee...

Living my best life

I'm at a medieval festival listening to the Dudelsack bagpipe band and realizing with some chagrin that I recognize all of the songs being played...from various Civilization game soundtracks

Unfortunately you need to have read the manga/watched the anime to understand wtf is going on on the Rose of Versailles movie on Netflix, which is a shame considering RoV was Formative for me. Now I still can't talk about it with anyone 😂

(Side note, I'd like to publish more stories from mothers. You do not need any writing experience. You'll be paid, and I'm happy to help you figure out your ideas and walk them through the editing process. Your *stories* are more valuable than anything else — pitch me at [email protected])

I enjoy writing for Hunt because half the time it means falling down some big rabbit hole about the weirdest little historical detail

If you really can't wait for the next issue of BCS to go live, you can find me in it here, right now!

Apparently I trenchcoated too hard in Germany, because i walked into the cafe and the person behind the counter said, "i bet you want a cappuccino." Give me my drip coffee and leave me alone 😭

I scrambled Basil an egg for Easter and he didn't want it I'm honestly so offended

Since my little Arkanoid is done, my next Godot project is setting up the scaffolding for a visual novel. Today I got the Ink plugin hooked up and working (how I missed Ink!!), and next time I'll mess with some formatting.