Tonight I'm prepping for class by playing some games of Hearts against King Graham and Larry Laffer. That's right--I'm streaming Sierra's 1989 Hoyle's Official Book of Games, which pits you against adventure game heroes and Sierra employees (and their children): www.twitch.tv/bluewyvernn

Today on Happy Fun Time GTA RP: It's the trial of the century in The People vs Stephen Baggano. Will the former mayoral chief of staff get away with fraud, theft of $1.5 million of city funds, and multiple murders? What does this mean for Mayor Zoe? Tune in to www.twitch.tv/bluewyvernn to find out!

Streaming some Peak with pals today for Peak Week! Honestly, it doesn't take much nudging to get us out for a climb together... www.twitch.tv/bluewyvernn

This is a thoughtful and nuanced article about the challenge of refusing work that doesn’t align with your values and how the mantra “no ethical consumption under capitalism” can abet abdicating responsibility. Some of my bright lines: no work involving gen AI, crypto, gambling, or dark patterns.

Did you know I stream on Twitch? Probably not, because I don't talk about it much! Today is my 1-year anniversary stream, and I'm celebrating with a selection of games about hiking and climbing. Come hit the trail with me! www.twitch.tv/bluewyvernn

This is a good lesson I've tried to put into practice: to create and sustain more connections, just keep coming back. Be the person that keeps extending invitations (and extending grace), without expectations of reciprocity. Make space for things to happen.

So, bit of bad news (minor in the scope of things, don't panic!)—the public NYC Game Dev Google calendar of local events is gone. My guess is an (unknown) contributor who just didn't use it anymore accidentally deleted it for everyone.

Reading and listening pairing: The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin Snow Drift, by State Azure stateazure.bandcamp.com/album/snow-d...

Portfolio update time! So many clients' projects have been launched or announced since I last touched it. Quick catch-up to highlight what I've been working on the past year or so… jesshaskins.com/portfolio

Happening tonight!

Happy Labor Day! Hope you're celebrating by supporting workers (unionize! ✊), enjoying the last of summer, and reclaiming rest from the capitalist machine. And hey, you can do all three at our monthly NYC Indie Games socials! The next one is this Weds, 9/3. RSVP here: freevite.app/event/nyc-in...

🐟 RELEASE DAY! 🐟 Road Trip to the End of the World is a visual novel about the death of a friendship, out TODAY - for free! When Andy and her imaginary friend Fishy set off on a road trip to crash their ex-best friend’s wedding, will they know when to hit the brakes? #IndieGames #NYMakesGames

This excerpt gets me every time.

A moment of Zen with jazz, cats, sunbeams, and rainbows.

Error 47 is literally the world’s Premier adventure game music band, comprised of people from all over the world. See how you can help them perform Live in Portland. Our dearly departed Roberta Vaughan was dedicated to making this happen on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/sea...

Portfolio update time! So many clients' projects have been launched or announced since I last touched it. Quick catch-up to highlight what I've been working on the past year or so… jesshaskins.com/portfolio

Love Lorelei Shannon's (Phantasmagoria: a Puzzle of Flesh designer and Princeless Bride) very visceral reaction to someone sharing an aI upscale of Beast Within

Love the lineup of characters for AdventureX @adventurex.bsky.social this year—all from great, recent games, including two I worked on (Rosewater and PRIM)!

Before you make your next #TTRPG, check out my free font Polymath, which lets you create a bunch of different dice types in an accessible way: hedgemazepress.itch.io/polymath-dic...

The big news of the day is—Strange Scaffold got a front page spot on Steam! It’s our first-ever publisher sale!! You can get EVERY GAME we’ve ever made for 60 bucks and I did a bunch of work on the gradients and colors to make it all look pretty!!! Ahhh!!!! store.steampowered.com/sale/strange...

After an attendee at one of my socials tipped me off to Partiful's privacy issues and connections to cartoonishly evil state surveillance firm Palantir, I decided to dump the platform. Here's some background if this is news to you too: www.thecut.com/article/wait...

Feels like "payment processor Stripe admits to being an anti LGBTQ hate group" should be an actual headline somewhere.

TONIGHT on Twitch: I'm streaming Muppet Treasure Island, the 1996 point-and-click adventure featuring master FMV thespian Tim Curry. Join me around 9:45 p.m. ET for some swashbuckling with the Muppets! 🏴‍☠️ twitch.tv/decafjedi

AdventureX, the narrative gaming expo in November, is still looking for sponsors - if you know any companies (development, hardware, software etc) that might be a good fit and interested, let me know or tag them in the comments! www.adventurexpo.org/sponsorship @adventurex.bsky.social

the dirty book: users guide to erotic software, catalog (1982) archive.org/details/TheD...

(Re)visited this pixel-horror quartet. They're similar but different and I love them. All great examples of how to capture time/place/mood without photorealistic graphics, treat mature subjects without feeling exploitative and provoke a sense of dread through expressive writing, music and visuals.

Every time.

This is not a metaphor for anything.

Ursula K. Le Guin on power, freedom, and how storytelling expands our scope of the possible www.themarginalian.org/2016/05/06/u...

Another great nudge/guide to ditching the inbox-clogging newsletters and enshittified algo-driven platforms and moving your reading material to RSS!

Tomorrow (and every first Wednesday) is the NYC Indie Games Social. Come on out and join us! partiful.com/e/8jwMWP5uqL...

I want to quickly clarify (though this could a blog post) that Holly's historian expertise is actually to ensure that the world's mythology and lore remains accurately vague, contradictory, and incomplete. We feel this is more realistic to history as we see it and far more interesting for the game

Wow we’re having “games are art” discourse again! Just gonna leave this here. From my dissertation:

This is a decent list of practical suggestions for weaning off infinite scrolls and enjoying more analog pleasures—embodied, sensorial, social and connected.

Rugged individualism is really just ragged isolation.

I learned to read at age 2, and the idea that it could be routine for kids to start learning at 7, or that any “expert” would suggest it’s “developmentally inappropriate” to even try before age 6, is boggling to me.

This is extremely cool. GOG is taking a stand against payment processors caving to fundamentalist religious groups and is offering a bunch of "banned" games for free. freedomtobuy.games

In October, I'll be joining this panel of fellow NYC game community leaders convened by @timrattray.bsky.social at the NYU Game Center to talk about the indie game scene here in the city, what makes it special, and how to help it thrive. Plus a peek at Tim's upcoming docuseries on the scene!

Next week (not tomorrow!) is the August NYC Indie Games Social, happening the first Wednesday of every month in the rooftop biergarten atop Tavern 29. Come on out, hang out, bring a friend. Indie game devs, fans, hobbyists, pros, students, friends—all are welcome! partiful.com/e/8jwMWP5uqL...

One-Eyed Likho is OUT with my first-ever ENGLISH translation! 👁️ Huge thanks to Morteshka for having us, and Arina Bedrina and @jesshaskins.bsky.social for helping out with editing, it was a lot of work 🗒️ I hope you all enjoy this marvelous yet dreadful journey into the Slavic folklore 🪓

Today is the launch of One-Eyed Likho, a gorgeous, twisted little horror game steeped in Slavic folklore. I had the joy of working with loc collective @thewarlocs.bsky.social , especially translator @preymak.com, to edit the game's English text. What a treat! store.steampowered.com/app/2346840/...

Does anyone know of any online gamedev hubs that have news, job posts, and community discussion all rolled together? A central place that devs actually use, I mean. (Asking for me)

So. I’ve started pre-production on my next project. - It’s a point & click adventure (naturally) - It’s not set in the Vespuccia universe - It won’t have branching. I’m focusing on “multiple puzzle chains at once” design - It’s much smaller in scope than Rosewater or Lamplight City

I self-published Without a Dawn in May. I made zero compromises, and I couldn't be happier how it turned out: store.steampowered.com/app/3145620/... 💛💚 Unfortunately, I've had very little luck with exposure, including the gaming press. 😩 #visualnovel #gamedev #steam

Enforced obsolescence is a games preservation issue

I love this analysis of the stories implied in mocked-up text chats from Apple marketing presentations—the lore of Dimension Apple. Everything is worldbuilding. maxread.substack.com/p/a-literary...

Because I keep mum too often: Hey! I'm looking for projects! Does your game have words, stories, or voices in it? We do game editing, narrative consulting, and voiceover production! If any of those sound useful to you or someone you know, let's chat! Boosts appreciated! 💖 thegameeditors.com

Dreamed I was back in one of my old office jobs filling out a timesheet. I hadn't had any work, so I wrote entries like "Talked with colleagues at water cooler 15m" and "Looked outside, noticed the shape of the trees 5m." Then I realized I wasn't supposed to write any of that and scribbled it out.

It's almost time for the July edition of the NYC Indie Games Social, happening tomorrow, 7/2 on the roof of Tavern 29 at 7pm! It's our monthly hangout for indie game devs, fans, students, and friends. All are welcome—join us! partiful.com/e/xdfa8Lptg3...