We don’t use generative AI at Strange Scaffold and I can confirm that a *lot* of other studios are not—whether indie or AAA. Get outta here with this normalization bullshit.

TEN++ bonus update! We've added support for Steam Cloud and fixed the save corruption issue -- hooray! Hope this helps everyone have an even better time playing N++ <3 store.steampowered.com/app/230270/N...

Did not expect one of the best paragraphs I’d read about baseball would come from an Irish newspaper www.irishexaminer.com/sport-column...

Jays win!!!

It’s always so delightful to hear @raiganburns.bsky.social cackling with glee as players encounter the gotchas in his fave N++ levels 😅

Re-posting for the weekend crowd -- it's TEN++, the 10th Anniversary of N++, and we're celebrating! <3

@raiganburns.bsky.social will be playing some of the new levels at 3pm EST! If you want to join in the fun, we'll be streaming here: www.twitch.tv/metanet_soft... and you can sign up in the discord to play (details below)!

AND ALSO, the lede buried in our blog post -- we're working on something new! 👀 Want to find out about it (soonish)? Sign up here: www.metanetsoftware.com/newgame

Want to get a sneak peak of the super-secret TEN++ Solo levels? One of the best players in the world is streaming them right now! :D www.twitch.tv/hiya_5

And the celebrations don't stop here! This weekend, @raiganburns.bsky.social will be playing through the brand new multiplayer levels on twitch with fans - want to play too? He'll be arranging things on the multiplayer channel of the N++ discord, so get on over there! :D discord.com/invite/nplusplus

We've also made a bunch of limited-edition merch to commemorate TEN++! @maresheppard.bsky.social made some very special level art, plus we created a TEN++ logo tshirt, a ninja hat, a super cool extruded N++ logo tshirt, a merch pack for the superfans out there, and more: www.etsy.com/shop/metanet

The TEN++ celebrations continue with ten (natch) new Featured Levels, hand-picked by the intrepid community curation team from over a hundred thousand (!!!) userlevels made over the last decade. Hear about these amazing levels here: metanetsoftware.tumblr.com/post/7975845... And then go play them!

So many feelings! We wrote about them over on our blog: www.metanetsoftware.com/2025/celebra...

TEN++ is a big thank you to everyone who has played the game and supported us over the years -- you rock! Check out this amazing video community member abho made for us to help celebrate: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8gs...

It's time! Today we're celebrating N++'s 10th Anniversary, aka TEN++, with style -- a fancy free update to the game and a Daily Deal on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/230270/N...

Whatever you do, please don’t stop reading. Read for joy. Read for education. Read for resistance. Read banned books. Read books by marginalized authors. Read about experiences that differ from your own. Just. Keep. Reading.

Feel like I should make a bigger deal of this. You can pre-order, right now, all three issues of exp. and get my extraordinarily funny and insightful writing on video games and the 1970s for just $20 USD (+shipping) in a bundle. And the set looks really cool! expzine.com/product/exp-...

And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. You need distance, interval. The way to see how beautiful the earth is, is to see it as the moon. The way to see how beautiful life is, is from the vantage point of death.

Oh no! This is actually devastating. He was such a sweet baby and instrumental in creating the cat-based internet we love today. He lived a very long a full life.

lately when i’m feeling hopeless i just think of the Katamari cat wearing scuba gear. if she can survive in an inhospitable environment then so can i

Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars. OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.

The Play for Peace: Games for Palestine charity bundle is now live! Nearly 400 games from creators all around the world, with proceeds going directly to Gaza relief efforts. Bundle link: itch.io/b/2979/play-... We made a launch trailer to celebrate this moment👇 Please RT.

Want to see the hardest N++ level ever made? Tune in right now!! :D www.twitch.tv/xskylighter

As someone who loves an em dash—and is no fan of AI—yes to all of this: www.theringer.com/2025/08/20/p...

The process is at least half the point. This is true for research as art. You cannot make a thing without learning how to use the tools of making, and learning why, and what effects they produce, and how making it... I'm going to be slightly weird here: making it makes you, too.

Make games for yourself and for your friends. Make things because they don't exist and you want to see them in the world, because you have an itch you need to scratch. Art made with love and passion and quirkiness will find an audience who appreciates that love and passion and quirkiness.

i know "artist" is an abstract/multifaceted term but games are indeed art and they're a very complicated art. you don't need to pretend your main reason to exist is to be like some kind of playful interface designer - you can aim higher than that. you honestly should aim higher than that tbh.

It's the 10th Anniversary of N++! www.metanetsoftware.com/2025/10-ish Festivities to follow...👀

New exp. Dispatch! I follow up on Wheels of Aurelia by watching its inspiration, Il Sorpasso, I review Luth Haroon's INSERT/DATE/HERE, and I implore you to watch Local Legends: expzine.com/2025/07/27/t... Subscribe FREE to get it early in your inbox: expzine.kit.com

Wheels of Aurelia has now been delisted by Apple. You can still pick it up elsewhere. It's worth playing:

there are so many great things about generative AI! here are some of my favorites <3

Apple is delisting Wheels of Aurelia from the App Store, because it's... "obsolete". Our statement:

I think the way this game by Luth Haroon illustrates what’s been happening is Gaza is powerful and haunting: lharoon.itch.io/insertdatehere

The unpleasant truth that game designers know and many gamers don't is that 70-80% of your "cool ideas" for games will prove to be unenjoyable for reasons that cannot be fixed. Having "good thoughts" about games is the floor to design games. Learning to evaluate and iterate will take a career.

I've said before I'll say it again... Bill Watterson is a G. Brought immense joy to the world, never sold out, walked away on his own terms at the top of the game to live out the kind of quiet, fulfilling life everybody talks about wanting but no one actually lives. A role model for any artist.

Computers used to scream every time they connected to the Internet. They knew. They tried to warn us. We did not listen.

if i can be y’all’s dad for a second: one of the most important things I’ve learned is that acquiring a skill is literally uncomfortable that awful moment where you feel confused and stupid and embarrassed? it means you’re about to learn something. and it’s *mandatory* if you want to get better

Predictive text models do not ever "answer your question" They predict what an answer to your question would probably look like. Which is very, very, very different

And just like that, Electric Pressure Cooker replaces every mention in every recipe and cooking tip I’ll ever write or mention. They’re dead to me now.

Can I be gauche and directly ask you to subscribe to the exp. newsletter, and then repost this? We've got a lot of cool stuff coming down the pipeline at expzine.com, and I really want you to hear about it! Subscribe here: expzine.kit.com

there is no ending to the sentence “I used Chat GPT…” that will justify using Chat GPT

Yes, you heard right, there are new Featured Levels in N++! Don't miss these awesomely autumnal maps hand-picked by the community: www.tumblr.com/metanetsoftw...

Good news: Japanese researchers may have found an explanation for long Covid and a possible treatment for it.

We put together a THOUGHTFUL ADVENTURES bundle for the #cerebralpuzzleshowcase feat. @gamemakerstoolkit.com @cicadagames.bsky.social @namataka.bsky.social @furnimatgames.bsky.social, like got dang look at this lineup y'all! All on sale, plus 10% extra bundled! store.steampowered.com/bundle/53643...

If you use AI you’re accelerating climate crisis, polluting deprived communities, burning through water, giving bosses excuses to reduce workers rights and wages. It’s a moral and ethical degradation.

If your industry (AI) can only exist by ripping the work of others without credit, then it shouldn't exist. The big companies are just steamrolling over the rights of everyone because they're getting away with it. Governments have been cowardly to act on this.

Anyone who screeches "This essential service that should be run as a business and should balance its budget!" must take a deep, long look in the mirror, ask themselves why they care, and then go find something that makes them happy - oh - and go fuck right off - that part is important too.

Canadians, make sure you vote today! 🇨🇦 ✅